Passive acoustic surveys demonstrate high densities of sperm whales off the mid-Atlantic coast of the USA in winter and spring.

Autor: Boisseau O; Marine Conservation Research International, R/V Song of the Whale Team, 94 High Street, Kelvedon, CO5 9AA, UK. Electronic address: oboisseau@mcr-team.org., Nowacek D; Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, 28516, USA., Pabst DA; Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA., Roberts J; Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA., Blawas A; Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, 28516, USA; Hopkins Marine Station, Oceans Department, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950, USA., Clabaugh A; Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, 28516, USA., McLanaghan R; Marine Conservation Research International, R/V Song of the Whale Team, 94 High Street, Kelvedon, CO5 9AA, UK., Moscrop A; Marine Conservation Research International, R/V Song of the Whale Team, 94 High Street, Kelvedon, CO5 9AA, UK., Levenson JJ; Environmental Studies Program, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington DC, 20240, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine environmental research [Mar Environ Res] 2024 Oct; Vol. 201, pp. 106674. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 10.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106674
Abstrakt: Oceans are increasingly crowded by anthropogenic activities yet the impact on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) marine life remains largely unquantified. The MAPS (Marine Mammal Acoustic and Spatial Ecology) study of 2019 included passive acoustic and visual vessel surveys over the Mid-Atlantic OCS of the USA to address data gaps in winter/spring for deep-diving cetaceans, including sperm whales. Echolocation clicks were used to derive slant ranges to sperm whales for design- and model-based density estimates. Although more survey effort was realised in the spring, high densities of whales were identified in both winter and spring (10.46 and 8.89 per 1000 km 2 respectively). The spring model-based abundance estimate of 1587 whales (CI 946-2663) was considered the most representative figure, in part due to lower coefficients of variation. Modelling suggested that high densities of whales were associated with warm core rings, eddies and edges. As OCS waters provide an important foraging habitat for North Atlantic sperm whales, appropriate mitigation is required to ensure commercial pressures to develop offshore energy do not negatively affect this endangered species.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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