Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia

Endangered species research

Roberto Racca^3¹  Olga Sychenko^1²  Koen Bröker^5,6⁴  Glenn Gailey^1⁵  Alexander Rutenko^4⁶  Trent McDonald^2⁷ 

[1] JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd., 2305–4464 Markham Street, Victoria, BC V8Z 7X8, Canada^3;M University, 200 Seawolf Pkwy, Galveston, TX 77553, USA^1;Marine Evolution and Conservation, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands^6;Shell Global Solutions, Lange Kleiweg 40, 2288GK Rijswijk, The Netherlands^5;Texas A&V.I. Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute FEB RAS, ul. Baltiiskaya 43, Vladivostok 690041, Russia^4;West, Inc. Western EcoSystems Technology, 200 S. Second St., Laramie, WY 82070, USA^2

关键词: Western gray whale;    Behaviour;    Seismic survey;    Anthropogenic disturbance;    Movement;    Respiration;   

DOI  :  10.3354/esr00713

学科分类：动物科学

来源: Inter-Research

【 摘 要 】

A seismic survey was conducted off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia in 2010. The survey area was adjacent to the only known near-shore feeding ground of the Critically Endangered population of western gray whales Eschrichtius robustus in the western Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands. This study examined the effectiveness of efforts to minimize the behavioural responses of the whales to vessel proximity and sound during the survey. Two shore-based behavioural observation teams monitored whale movements and respirations pre-, during and post-seismic survey. Theodolite tracking and focal-animal follow methods were used to collect behavioural data. Mixed linear models were used to examine deviations from ‘normal’ patterns in 10 movement and 7 respiration response variables in relation to vessel proximity, vessel/whale relative orientations and 8 received sound metrics to examine if seismic survey sound and/or vessel activity influenced the whales’ behaviour. Behavioural state and water depth were the best ‘natural’ predictors of whale movements and respiration. After considering natural variation, none of the response variables were significantly associated with seismic survey or vessel sounds. A whale’s distance from shore and its orientation relative to the closest vessel were found to be significantly influenced by vessel proximity, which suggested some non-sound related disturbance. The lack of evidence that the whales responded to seismic survey sound and vessel traffic by changing either their movement or respiration patterns could indicate that the current mitigation strategy is effective. However, power analyses suggest that our sample sizes were too small to detect subtle to moderate changes in gray whale behaviour.

【 授权许可】

Unknown