Assessing the impacts of ship noise on Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) in the western Canadian Arctic through passive acoustic monitoring

My proposed project aims to determine the extent to which increased vessel traffic in the Canadian Arctic will impact Bowhead Whales and proactively develop mitigation strategies. As Arctic sea ice is lost at an increasing rate due to climate change, the amount of vessel traffic through marine Arctic environments has increased dramatically over the past several decades. This increase in large ships represents a serious conservation threat to the Bowhead Whale, a large baleen whale species endemic to the Arctic. The increase in underwater noise from these ships have the potential to disrupt regular behaviour and spatial distributions of this vulnerable, long-lived species. My work will make use of long-term marine acoustic monitoring to measure the amount of noise produced by vessels in the western Canadian Arctic and quantify how Bowhead Whales respond to this anthropogenic noise. In quantifying how Bowhead Whales change habitat use patterns, and by classifying how different vocalizations change in response to vessel noise, I will be able to produce proactive conservation strategies to minimize the impacts of increased vessel traffic on this species.

Faculty Supervisor:

Stan Dosso

Student:

Partner:

Wildlife Conservation Society Canada

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

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

University:

University of Victoria

Program: