Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada
Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus occur seasonally in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada, where they spend most of their time foraging. Their recurrent presence has stimulated the development of a large whale-watching industry. Here, we examine the effect of vessel distance on blue whale foraging beha...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00825 https://doaj.org/article/0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e 2023-05-15T15:36:23+02:00 Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada Lesage, V Omrane, A Doniol-Valcroze, T Mosnier, A 2017-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00825 https://doaj.org/article/0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v32/p351-361/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00825 https://doaj.org/article/0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e Endangered Species Research, Vol 32, Pp 351-361 (2017) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00825 2022-12-31T08:23:32Z Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus occur seasonally in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada, where they spend most of their time foraging. Their recurrent presence has stimulated the development of a large whale-watching industry. Here, we examine the effect of vessel distance on blue whale foraging behaviour by measuring changes in surface and diving patterns. Vessels were within 2000 m of blue whales during 70% of 33 follows, and 59% of total observation time. At vessel distances ≤400 m, surface and dive times were on average 49 and 36% shorter, respectively, and the number of breaths taken by the whales was reduced by 51% compared to control observations without vessel presence within 2000 m of whales. The consequent reduction in foraging time was likely greater than 36%, given that transit time is incompressible and foraging depth is dictated by where krill densities are located. We showed that the relative proportion of lost foraging time from vessel exposure increased exponentially with prey depth. Whales were unable to compensate for lost feeding opportunities by increasing diving rate or swim speed, except when feeding within 10 to 15 m of the surface. Our results indicate that preventing vessels from entering within a 400 m radius around blue whales can help reduce the negative effects of marine recreational activities on blue whale foraging. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Endangered Species Research 32 351 361 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
spellingShingle |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 Lesage, V Omrane, A Doniol-Valcroze, T Mosnier, A Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus occur seasonally in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada, where they spend most of their time foraging. Their recurrent presence has stimulated the development of a large whale-watching industry. Here, we examine the effect of vessel distance on blue whale foraging behaviour by measuring changes in surface and diving patterns. Vessels were within 2000 m of blue whales during 70% of 33 follows, and 59% of total observation time. At vessel distances ≤400 m, surface and dive times were on average 49 and 36% shorter, respectively, and the number of breaths taken by the whales was reduced by 51% compared to control observations without vessel presence within 2000 m of whales. The consequent reduction in foraging time was likely greater than 36%, given that transit time is incompressible and foraging depth is dictated by where krill densities are located. We showed that the relative proportion of lost foraging time from vessel exposure increased exponentially with prey depth. Whales were unable to compensate for lost feeding opportunities by increasing diving rate or swim speed, except when feeding within 10 to 15 m of the surface. Our results indicate that preventing vessels from entering within a 400 m radius around blue whales can help reduce the negative effects of marine recreational activities on blue whale foraging. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lesage, V Omrane, A Doniol-Valcroze, T Mosnier, A |
author_facet |
Lesage, V Omrane, A Doniol-Valcroze, T Mosnier, A |
author_sort |
Lesage, V |
title |
Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_short |
Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_full |
Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_sort |
increased proximity of vessels reduces feeding opportunities of blue whales in the st. lawrence estuary, canada |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00825 https://doaj.org/article/0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 32, Pp 351-361 (2017) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v32/p351-361/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00825 https://doaj.org/article/0105c34f7f9a496ea919aae9f50bff1e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00825 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
32 |
container_start_page |
351 |
op_container_end_page |
361 |
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1766366736175595520 |