Ships and Whales in Gitga’at Territory: Risks of whale-vessel interactions.

As whales recover from the past centuries of whaling and as global trade compels shipping traffic to increase, we expect negative whale-ship interactions such as fatal strikes and noise disturbance to become an increasingly serious issue. To develop cost-effective and broadly applicable methods of assessing the risks of ships to whale feeding grounds, I propose to work with the partner organization to conduct a vessel strike risk assessment based on 3 years of visual survey data in a remote fjord system of northern British Columbia that is slated for increased shipping traffic. I will analyze the data we collect to assess the risk of strikes with small recreational vessels and large ships for two whales species, humpback whales and fin whale. The methods we develop will inform mitigation measures in our study site and facilitate similar studies elsewhere.

Faculty Supervisor:

Natalie Ban

Student:

Partner:

World Wildlife Fund Canada (Toronto, ON)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

University of Victoria

Program: