2008. Increasing numbers of ship strikes in the Canary Islands: proposal for immediate action to reduce risk of vesselwhale collisions

• Main Authors: Manuel Carrillo, Fabian Ritter
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: baleen whale; Physeter macrocephalus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1054.7686; http://www.canariasconservacion.org/Documentos/JCRM%2011-2%20pp131-138_Carrillo_Ritter.pdf

ABSTRACT The Canary Islands, known for their extraordinarily high cetacean species diversity, have witnessed a rapid expansion in fast and high speed ferry traffic during the past few years. At the same time, ship strikes have been increasingly reported. 556 cetacean carcasses, found ashore, or reported, in the Canary Islands between 1991 and 2007, were examined. 59 strandings (10.6%) were found to involve vessel-whale collisions, the great majority of strandings (58%) occurred on Tenerife. Species most affected were sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus, n = 24, 41%), pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps, n = 10, 17%), Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris, n = 7, 12%), short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus, n = 6, 10%) and at least three baleen whale species (n = 9, 15%). Twenty six animals (44%, n = 42) were either calves or juveniles, and one was a newborn. The temporal distribution of strandings indicates that lethal strikes have increased