The effect of underwater anthropogenic sound on marine mammals is of increasing concern. Here we show that humpback\r\nwhale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) was reduced, concurrent\r\nwith transmissions of an Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing (OAWRS) experiment approximately 200 km away. We\r\ndetected the OAWRS experiment in SBNMS during an 11 day period in autumn 2006. We compared the occurrence of song for\r\n11 days before, during and after the experiment with song over the same 33 calendar days in two later years. Using a quasi-\r\nPoisson generalized linear model (GLM), we demonstrate a significant difference in the number of minutes with detected song\r\nbetween periods and years. The lack of humpback whale song during the OAWRS experiment was the most substantial signal\r\nin the data. Our findings demonstrate the greatest published distance over which anthropogenic sound has been shown to\r\naffect vocalizing baleen whales, and the first time that active acoustic fisheries technology has been shown to have this effect.\r\nThe suitability of Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing technology for in-situ, long term monitoring of marine\r\necosystems should be considered, bearing in mind its possible effects on non-target species, in particular protected species.
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