SR3’s Dr. Holly Fearnbach and colleagues Dr. John Durban (NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center) and Jessica Farrer (SR3) completed a successful field effort as part of their long-term health assessment monitoring project of the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population. The team used an unmanned octocopter drone to non-invasively collect high-resolution aerial images of 63/73 whales in the population, including whales from all three social pods (“J”, “K” and “L” pods).These images will be measured to monitor growth and body condition of individually-identifiable whales of known age and life-history. Morphometric measurements will be compared to a 12-year time series for the same whales to infer changes in nutritional health and support management actions aiming to maintain an adequate food supply.
Aerial images of endangered Southern Resident killer whales in L-pod collected in September 2019. These images will be used in photogrammetry analyses of growth and body condition. Images obtained using a remotely-piloted octocopter that was flown >100ft above the whales under NMFS Research Permit #19091.