Design of an improved model for marine species movement

Anthropogenic noise is a growing concern for marine species. High intensity acoustic events, such as sonar and offshore drilling, have the potential to harm marine species in the area. The Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act were passed to address this issue and are the cornerstones of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) mission. The NOAA attempts to regulate the populations of marine species in the US economic zone, and requires any organization that performs offshore acoustic activities to apply for authorization. In order receive this authorization the organization must provide estimates on the number of individuals of each species that could be affected by the acoustic event. The currently accepted approach to calculating these estimates is to model the movement of species in the area during the acoustic event. The largest weakness in these models is that they do not sufficiently account for behavioral responses and available animal movement data is limited. This study attempted to find the optimal approach to simulate the behavior of various marine species based on available modeling techniques. The overall objective is to minimize the uncertainty in the incidental take estimates. This is accomplished through testing various modeling techniques in a previously studied location.