Automatic manatee count using passive acoustics

The West Indian manatee is a threatened species throughout its known range. To improve its conservation, it is necessary to locate and count the individuals. This is a very difficult task due to the cryptic behavioral characteristics of the species and the environmental constrains, particularly in the Central American region, where muddy waters produce limited visibility. A method to estimate manatee population through vocalizations is a reliable, inexpensive, non-invasive, and novel option in the region. Digital signal processing techniques are proposed to identify individuals in field recordings of manatee vocalizations. The proposed methods for signal denoising and vocalization recognition have produced promising results. Further work needs to be done to identify individuals.