Exposure of satellite tagged bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) to transiting vessels in the Eastern Canadian Arctic

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dc.contributor.authorMartin, Morgan
dc.contributor.authorHalliday, William
dc.contributor.authorFerguson, Steven H
dc.contributor.authorYoung, Brent G.
dc.contributor.authorCharish, Rachel
dc.contributor.authorDawson, Jackie
dc.contributor.authorFortune, Sarah M. E.
dc.contributor.authorJuanes, Francis
dc.contributor.authorQaunaq, Levi
dc.contributor.authorInsley, Stephen J.
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-14T19:05:56Z
dc.date.available2024-05-14T19:05:56Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractClimate change poses new challenges to Arctic marine mammals, with increasing vessel traffic and associated underwater noise pollution emerging as significant threats. The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), an endemic Arctic cetacean, faces these new threats. The Eastern Canada-West Greenland (ECWG) bowhead whale population migrates through areas with the highest levels of vessel traffic in the Canadian Arctic. Here, we document the spatial and temporal overlap between 36 satellite-tagged ECWG bowhead whales and vessels equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders during 2012–2017. We report 1,145 instances where vessels were within 125 km of a tagged whale, with 306 occurrences within distances ≤50 km. Overlap between vessels and tagged bowhead whales was quantified monthly within years to investigate individual whale encounter rates. Results indicate that ECWG bowhead whales encounter the majority (79%) of vessels annually during August–October, with the highest number of encounters (42%) observed in September. Encounter rates ranged from 0.25 to 0.51 vessels encountered per day per whale during August–October compared to <0.07 vessels per day in all other months in this study. To better inform conservation strategies, further research is required to assess bowhead whale behavioral responses relative to distance from vessels.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.identifier.citationMartin, M. J., Halliday, W. D., Ferguson, S. H., Young, B. G., Charish, R., Dawson, J., Fortune, S. M. E., Juanes, F., Qaunaq, L., & Insley, S. J. (2024). Exposure of satellite tagged bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) to transiting vessels in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Marine Mammal Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13125
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13125
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/16517
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherMarine Mammal Science
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectacoustic disturbance
dc.subjectanthropogenic noise
dc.subjectautomatic identification system
dc.subjectbio-logging tags
dc.subjectcetacean
dc.subjectNorthwest Passage
dc.subjectvessel strike
dc.subjectvessel traffic
dc.titleExposure of satellite tagged bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) to transiting vessels in the Eastern Canadian Arctic
dc.typeArticle

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