Drifting Acoustic Spar Buoy Recorders (DASBRs) were deployed six times in the San Nicolas Basin from 4 to 15 January 2018 for a total of 120 hours of recordings. Echolocation clicks of Cuvier's beaked whales were detected on 47 discrete occasions. Based on the diving behavior of this species, each occasion probably represents a deep-foraging dive. The average number of new deep-foraging dives per hour was 0.38. Cuvier's beaked whale echolocation clicks were detected in 12.4% of all recording minutes. Data from this study will be used as a measure of relative abundance of beaked whales to compare with other areas where DASBRs have been deployed.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)