Unmasking the deep: Foraging trends of beaked whales (Ziphiidae) across the Australian Northwest Shelf
Despite their role as deep-sea sentinels, the foraging ecology of beaked whales remain poorly documented globally. This presentation shares insights from a year-long passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) study along Australia’s Northwest Shelf—a region vital for cetacean sustenance yet characterized by heavy offshore oil, gas, and shipping activity. Utilizing a semi-automated workflow based on correlogram visualizations of buzzes—short, rapid echolocation click trains associated with prey capture attempts—we detect and characterize beaked whale foraging activity across three deep-water sites in the region. Our results reveal persistent, year-round foraging with a significant nocturnal peak, suggesting a consistent reliance on these habitats despite high levels of industrial presence. We discuss how these findings underscore the ecological significance of the region and demonstrate the power of efficient PAM workflows for monitoring cryptic species in data-limited, industrialized marine environments.