The hotel group ATTITUDE, which is very active in the protection of the ocean and natural ecosystems in general, is a partner of the NGO GLOBICE in this beautiful project.
The installation of this hydrophone is part of the regional research project COMBAVA, led by GLOBICE, in collaboration with the Marine Discovery Centre of the Attitude Group, located at the Lagoon Attitude Hotel. This installation was carried out with the Marine Discovery Centre team who deployed the hydrophone at a depth of about 30 meters at a site in the northern region where humpback whales are regularly observed from June to October, when they come to breed, give birth and feed their young.
What is a hydrophone ?
It is a microphone that detects sound waves underwater. For two months, this non-intrusive method that does not harm marine life will record whale songs, which are unique sounds, among the most complex in the animal world; each whale population has its own song structure. By comparing acoustic recordings from all project sites, we may learn more about the different whale populations and how and if they are connected.
The COMBAVA project has two main objectives:
➔ Try to understand why the presence of humpback whales in the Indian Ocean varies so much from year to year; ➔ Strengthen the skills of local actors and increase their knowledge about this species.
Hydrophones have also been deployed in Reunion, Madagascar, Mayotte, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and Australia. All acoustic data collected will be processed and analyzed by GLOBICE; the results of this study will be communicated in a report before the end of 2022.
