Assessing the Performance of Passive Acoustic Monitoring Technologies for Porpoise Detection in a High Flow Tidal Energy Test Site

Current interests in harnessing tidal energy from Minas Passage, a high flow (up to 6 m/s) channel in the upper Bay of Fundy, require examination of potential effects of tidal turbines on the environment, including impacts on commonly occurring harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. To collect baseline data on porpoise presence in the FORCE turbine test site in Minas Passage, two Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) technologies were used: the C-POD (porpoise click logger, Chelonia Ltd) and the icListenHF (digital hydrophone, Ocean Sonics). Prior multi-year PAM studies in the Minas Passage involved C-POD hydrophones housed within streamlined SUB buoys suspended 3m above the seafloor. The icListenHF raw audio data were used to validate C-POD harbour porpoise clicks. A comparison of the performance of both technologies showed that the icListenHF recorded five times the number of C-POD Detection Positive Minutes. We recommend that bottom mounted platforms fitted with cabled digital HF hydrophones be used for monitoring harbour porpoise in and near the FORCE test site.