George Ioup’s contribution to the Gulf of Mexico acoustic research: paving the path into the future

By the end of the 1990s, researchers and regulators recognized the need for understanding how anthropogenic activities impact cetacean’s populations in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2000, George Ioup was one of the founders of the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC), a consortium of Gulf Coast scientists, with the long-term goal of studying the anthropogenic soundscapes of the Gulf of Mexico and their impact on marine mammals. In 2001, LADC was the first team to collect long-term acoustic data rich in sperm whale phonations from bottom-moored autonomous buoys, technology developed by NAVOCEANO and adapted for LADC needs. The first step in establishing a baseline database was taken. At the same time, George sparked the interest of bioacousticians with ideas on how to employ the differences in sperm whale phonations to identify individuals similar to how humans recognize voices. LADC endeavors continued through designing acoustic surveys to characterize the soundscapes of seismic exploration arrays and being the first team to record beaked whales in the Gulf of Mexico in 2007. Recent advances in understanding marine mammal habitats, studying the oil spill impact on these animals, and introducing new acoustic technologies would not be possible without the seminal work of George Ioup.