Researchers using their ears to monitor the health of the Caloosahatchee

When scientists check on the health of our marine environments, they do more than just test the water quality. One group of researchers cares about what they hear underwater.

When you’re enjoying a day out on the water, you use your senses. You can see what the water looks like, you can feel it if you take a dip, and you may be able to smell it, but have you ever dunked your head underwater and just listened?

Researchers are using a hydrophone to do just that to better understand the health of the Caloosahatchee Estuary.

AJ Martignette, a marine laboratory manager at the Sanibel-Captive Conservation Foundation said, “hydrophone is basically just an underwater microphone that records the sound that is underwater.”

The project is a partnership between the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation and Mote Marine Laboratory.

“We’re making recordings of vocalizations by fishes, marine mammals, boats, any other source that produces an acoustic pressure wave underwater,” said Dr. James Locascio, program manager of fisheries, habitat ecology and acoustics at the Mote Marine Laboratory.

Pair this with water quality data from SCCF’s recon system, and researchers can compare water conditions with the sounds they capture.

“In Tampa Bay, they had some hydrophones deployed and they noticed that during the red tide, the bay got quiet. Basically, anything that was making noise left the bay, it was either killed by the red tide, or left to avoid the red tide,” said Martignette.

Although nature is resilient, this information helps us understand just how big of an impact humans have.

Locascio said, “it’s important for us to understand what is natural, what is human-induced because one of those things we can be responsible for and manage for.”

SCCF and the Mote Marine Laboratory have two hydrophones deployed in the Caloosahatchee Estuary, but they hope to receive grant funding to be able to deploy more of them.