Loggerhead Instruments is structured around making available to scientist advances in passive acoustics recording solutions. Having built its first animal tags to record finescale motion of sea turtles and pinnipeds in 2010, in2017, Loggerhead acquired the scientific cloud computing assets and IP of Humu Labs. Examples of facilities that are using Loggerhead equipment include document changes in dolphin detections and ambient noise as Abaco recovers from Hurricane Dorian, which devastated the Bahamas in September 2019. Initial analysis of the first six months of post-hurricane data showed an expected increase in dolphin detections as the ambient noise has decreased: changes are due to a 90 percent reduction of boats in the area, a lingering effect of the hurricane. Loggerhead Instruments is collaborating with a team establishing coastal listening stations capable of automatically identifying the presence of manatees and dolphins using their vocalizations: results shared in real-time. Stations employ a neural network being trained to identify individual dolphins using recordings of their signature whistles - also training neural network to detect manatee vocalizations. Highly vulnerable to hits by propeller-driven boats; better understanding of manatee behavior, communication and ecology may mitigate negative human encounters. Loggerhead Instruments' successfully deployed in Lake Ossa, Cameroon to record vocalizations from the African manatee (aka West African manatee). Found along western coast of Africa, effort is to use the vocalization data to assess impact of proliferation of giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta), an invasive, floating aquatic fern which may be negatively impacting the manatees. Team also hopes to use new equipment acoustically to monitor for other aquatic megafauna such as cetaceans.
