The first annual report for the Sperm Whale Seismic Study (SWSS) detailed the program objectives, tasks, and participants, the data collection and processing for the S-tag and D-tag cruises in year 1, and the methods for data collection and quality assurance/quality control(QA/QC), as well as presenting preliminary technical discussions (Jochens and Biggs 2003).This report focuses on the data collection and analysis efforts during year 2 of the study.

This is the third annual report of the Sperm Whale Seismic Study (SWSS). SWSS is a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary study supported by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior under Cooperative Agreement 1435-01-02-CA-85186 for Cooperative Research on Sperm Whales and their Response to Seismic Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico through the Texas A&M Research Foundation. Under SWSS, scientists from Ecologic, Oregon State University (OSU), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Texas A&M University (TAMU), Texas A&M University-Galveston (TAMUG), University of Colorado (CU), University of Durham (UD), University of St. Andrews (USA), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) develop and implement scientific research plans in coordination with MMS, the Office of Naval Research (ONR), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Industry Research Funders Coalition (IRFC).

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) manages the oil and gas resources of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in a manner that seeks "to ensure that all activities on the OCS are conducted with appropriate environmental protection and impact mitigation" (USDOI, MMS 2002). To this end, MMS sponsors studies to evaluate environmental impacts of OCS activities and to identify appropriate mitigation measures. Since the 1970s, one focus has been on the potential for impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals. Marine mammals are adapted to use sound in the ocean for communication, navigation, localizing and using prey, and sensing of the environment. These animals have evolved in an ocean that is filled with natural sounds. Humans began to introduce significant additional sound sources with the advent of the industrial age in the mid-nineteenth century. As the power and number of these sound sources increased, the potential for impacting marine mammals increased as well. Of concern are the potentials for negative behavioral and physiological responses to human-generated sound, at both the individual and population levels.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is a agency within the U.S. Department of Interior. BOEM has four sections that cover the United States' waters: Alaska OCS Region, Pacific OCS Region, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region and the Atlantic OCS Region. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region is responsible for almost 160 million acres of lands off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Currently, more than 31 million acres are leased for gas and oil development, and six million are actually producing oil and natural gas. The Gulf of Mexico Region is in charge of addressing the Environment, Leasing and Plans, and Resource Evaluation. The publish a variety of documents with topics such as: Marine Biology, Natural Gas, Oil Spills, Transportation, Chemical Products, etc. This is one of those publications.