Abstract – Sperm whales remove fish from commercial fishing gear worldwide. In the Gulf of Alaska, they are targeting sablefish caught on commercial longline fishing vessels. The Southeast Alaska Sperm Whale Avoidance Project (SEASWAP) was formed in 2003 by fishermen and scientists to study this behavior, better understand the interaction, and work collaboratively to minimize encounters. This talk will discuss the evolution of research and findings from SEASWAP, with a focus on fishermen guided research questions, scientific findings, and attempts of collaborators to “think like a sperm whale” in order to create effective deterrent options. Highlights of these collaborative efforts include increased knowledge of the population of sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska, a better understanding of whale behavior, and testing of deterrent devices that could reduce whale-vessel interactions, such as an acoustic decoy and towed arrays. Scientists with SEASWAP have guided research using animal borne tags to explore both fine-scale and broad-scale movement of whales, attaching acoustic and video equipment directly to fishing gear to observe and track whales, and most recently analyzing diet of sperm whales in the region through stable isotope analysis. This work continues to provide incredible knowledge of sperm whales and depredation behavior to scientists and industry members alike, while often inspiring more questions than answers along the way.
