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Whale song to be recorded

The calls of whales in King George Sound will be recorded for the first time later this month.

A team from Curtin University marine science and technology centre plan to visit Albany in the coming weeks to deploy two acoustic logging devices that will record the “sea soundscape” over the next three months.

Centre deputy director Chandra Salgado-Kent said the project was a first for Albany, after similar recordings in Geographe Bay were carried out during the past five years.

“Albany will be a new location for collecting important humpback and southern right whale calls,” she said.

“We plan to deploy two acoustic logging devices that will sit on the seabed in one position for a period of two or three months and record the marine environment.

“The device is a 60kg cylinder of electronics and batteries that attaches to a mooring by a rope … it has a hydrophone, which is like a microphone, which records anything that makes noise.”

Dr Salgado-Kent said the devices would be set to record 800 of every 900 seconds of sea noise, which could include fish, dolphins, seals and ships.

“Our main interest is the whales,” she said.

“We want to get an estimate of the relative abundance of whales in Albany, which will not (be) the absolute abundance because we will only be able to analyse the vocalising animals … but we hope to establish the seasonality of these whales.”

Whales, in particular humpback whales, are known for their pattern of calls, known as “whale song”.

Dr Salgado-Kent said after a pilot recording this whale season, researchers hope to repeat the project methodology to establish trends over time.

“When you collect that information over some years, you start to get an idea of migration patterns, whether they are regular or irregular and what might be driving any irregularities,” she said.

Dr Salgado-Kent said the team had been liaising with the port.

She said the newly formed Department of Parks and Wildlife would provide a boat and skipper, with data collected to be analysed at Curtin University.