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ACOUSTIC RESEARCH 
Marine mammals, including killer whales, spend most of their time underwater and out of humans' sight. Studying whales in the wild is very challenging, the animals are difficult to locate and the weather can be inhospitable. Understanding behaviours, such as migratory patterns, has become much easier with the help of bioacoustics and modern technology. Dialects More than two decades of research have revealed that killer whales have pod-specific dialects. These allow scientists to acoustically identify groups of whales. Killer whales rely on acoustics to keep in contact with others in the group and to navigate and find food. It is unclear if each whale call has a different meaning. Researchers believe that killer whales may have different dialects to identify relatives and keep kin groups together. Using underwater microphones, called hydrophones, researchers can listen for whales to learn more about their movement patterns. These passive listening techniques are a non-obtrusive form of research and do not affect the whales. ORCA FM
WhaleLink and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre WhaleLink is a research and conservation project with an aim to monitor the underwater vocalizations of killer whales through a network of remote listening stations. Each listening station is located at a strategic coastal location, where whales frequently pass at close range. A primary listening station is located at the Robson Bight - Michael Bigg Ecological Reserve in Johnstone Strait. This station, connected to an underwater microphone offshore in 30 metres of water, transmits locally as ORCA FM, to allow whale watchers in the Robson Bight area to listen live to the underwater soundscape. The ORCA FM signal can also be monitored at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and on the WWW. Other WhaleLink listening stations, currently under development, use cellular phone technology to relay underwater sounds from remote locations to the Aquarium. As whales pass each cellular listening station, they trigger a cell phone to "call" the researchers at the Aquarium thereby allowing their movements along the coast to be tracked year-round. By tracking and identifying groups of whales and monitoring their movements through WhaleLink, researchers will be able to answer many more questions regarding killer whale life cycles, their society, and their seasonal distribution. This project is still in its early development stages and it will likely take ten years to complete the WhaleLink network. Donor support is welcome from those interested in assisting in the project. For more information please e-mail: adoption@vanaqua.org     
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