The Lucky Lady sailboat, 30 feet, left Bahia Marina with five crew members, aiming to conduct an acoustic mapping survey of humpback whales on the coast of Bahia. Its destination was the Marine National Park of Abrolhos, to conduct the first bioacustic scientific sailing expedition. Through the sound monitoring with a hydrophone and a digital recorder, the sing of the humpback whales was captured (migratory flagship species that comes to the coast of Bahia between July and November, reproductive period). This is an unprecedented work in Brazil that aims to contribute to the marine preservation.
This research was performed by Bemfica Expedições and sponsored by Catacean Society International, Bahia Marina and Belov Engenharia. In Abrolhos, the crew was supported by the Brazilian Navy and the Humpback Whale Institute (IBJ), in Caravelas.
According to researchers of the expedition, one of the main characteristics of this species is the sing perfomed by the male as a reproduction function. Such sounds will be used to provide data on how many “singers” we have between Salvador and Abrolhos and where they concentrate.
The recording of the whale sounds was done in every three hours, for five or ten minutes long. Along that, 23 groups of humpback whales were seen, for a total of 54 animals and 43 recording points. The sing of the humpback whales was detected in every reconding point, confirming that the area is very frequented by them as an area for reproduction.
The expedition totalized 750 nautical miles navigated in 130 hours, in which 100 hours just sailing. This was a sustainable concern in every area of the research, both for the consumption of fuel – just 100 liters of diesel along the entire way, and for the consumption of water and energy production.
This reseach is being coordenated by the Professor Dr. Marcos Rossi-Santos, from the Acoustic Ecology and Animal Behavior Lab, from the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB), that also operates closely with the postgraduate program in ecology and biomonitoring from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA).
Master student of the program and student at the sailboat school “Fraternidade” (by Aleixo Belov), Taís Bemfica, is part of the crew along with Captain and biologist Daniel Lewis, the graduate student in biology Clara Resende and the sailor Sophie Bemfica Lewis, two years old only.
According to the Director of Bahia Marina, Leilane Loureiro, to offer support for the academic research is essential for the progress. “Since it is an unprecedented study with new data, the information becomes a tool of preservation and marine monitoring”, she says.
