Short-Finned Pilot Whale

NOAA Fisheries conducts various research activities on the biology, behavior, and ecology of the pilot whale. The results of this research are used to learn more about this species.

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Stock Assessments

Determining the number of pilot whales in each population—and whether a stock is increasing or decreasing over time—helps resource managers assess the success of enacted conservation measures. Our scientists collect information and present these data in annual stock assessment reports. 

Acoustic Science

Acoustic research at NOAA uses underwater microphones to record sounds made by whales and dolphins. Once the recorders are collected and brought back to the lab, those sounds are detected on the recordings, and classified to species when possible. Using this data, scientists are able to learn more about the distribution and abundance of a species than using visual observations alone. 

NOAA scientists have used recordings of short-finned pilot whales to describe their acoustic behavior and improve our descriptions of their stock structure in the Pacific Ocean. Similar experiments track the response of short-finned pilot whales to human-generated sounds by playing recordings of those sounds and observing the response of animals in the wild. 

Eventually, what we learn about the way different species vocalize can be used to detect and count cetaceans using autonomous gliders and passive acoustic arrays. 

Learn more about acoustic science

Molecular Genetic Research

Molecular genetic techniques are invaluable tool in cetacean research. Cetaceans are elusive, spending little time at the surface, and often live in remote areas that are difficult to sample. Because of this, classifying species and population structure using traditional morphological methods often gives us an incomplete picture of cetacean diversity. Analyses of molecular genetic markers provide insight about species’ population structure and diversity, and can reveal cryptic populations or subspecies that may be separated by oceanographic features, ecological differences, or social structure.

NOAA Fisheries has been using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences to examine population structure of short-finned pilot whales in the Pacific Ocean. Using these sequences, we have described the distribution of two types of short-finned pilot whale in the Pacific Ocean – one in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and the other in Hawai‘i and the western Pacific Ocean. In Hawai‘i, we’ve identified a resident population around the main Hawaiian Islands that is likely reproductively isolated from individuals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and open ocean surrounding the islands.