Assessing the behavioural responses and the energetic consequences of ship noise disturbance and commercial fishing on cetaceans in the Canadian Arctic

Whales can be sensitive to underwater noise produced from vessels and are at risk of harm through ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Commercial shipping and fishing activity is increasing in the Arctic as the receding sea ice opens new areas to human activities. However, we don’t know how whales in the Arctic will respond to these activities. In this project we plan to undertake a series of research programs to explore interactions of whales with shipping and fishing vessels, and measure their responses to underwater noise. We will use tags to track the movements and dive behaviour of three species of whales in the Canadian Arctic: bowhead whales, sperm whales, and northern bottlenose whales. We plan to undertake controlled ship noise playback experiments on bowhead whales to monitor whether they respond by altering their vocalizations, movements, and dive behaviour. Sperm whales and northern bottlenose whales are frequently seen near fishing boats during summer in Baffin Bay. We will deploy tags on these species to measure differences in behaviour between natural foraging and foraging around fishing vessels, to explore whether these interactions are positive or negative. This data will be used to help inform conservation measures for whales in the Arctic.

Faculty Supervisor:

Francis Juanes

Student:

Partner:

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program: