Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia
A seismic survey was conducted off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia in 2010. The survey area was adjacent to the only known near-shore feeding ground of the Critically Endangered population of western gray whales Eschrichtius robustus in the western Pacific south of the Aleutian Isl...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:726393eca9d7491da84bc6d81d4e5265 2023-05-15T18:09:04+02:00 Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia Gailey, G Sychenko, O McDonald, T Racca, R Rutenko, A Bröker, K 2016-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00713 https://doaj.org/article/726393eca9d7491da84bc6d81d4e5265 EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v30/p53-71/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00713 https://doaj.org/article/726393eca9d7491da84bc6d81d4e5265 Endangered Species Research, Vol 30, Pp 53-71 (2016) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00713 2022-12-31T16:05:34Z A seismic survey was conducted off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia in 2010. The survey area was adjacent to the only known near-shore feeding ground of the Critically Endangered population of western gray whales Eschrichtius robustus in the western Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands. This study examined the effectiveness of efforts to minimize the behavioural responses of the whales to vessel proximity and sound during the survey. Two shore-based behavioural observation teams monitored whale movements and respirations pre-, during and post-seismic survey. Theodolite tracking and focal-animal follow methods were used to collect behavioural data. Mixed linear models were used to examine deviations from ënormalí patterns in 10 movement and 7 respiration response variables in relation to vessel proximity, vessel/whale relative orientations and 8 received sound metrics to examine if seismic survey sound and/or vessel activity influenced the whalesí behaviour. Behavioural state and water depth were the best ënaturalí predictors of whale movements and respiration. After considering natural variation, none of the response variables were significantly associated with seismic survey or vessel sounds. A whaleís distance from shore and its orientation relative to the closest vessel were found to be significantly influenced by vessel proximity, which suggested some non-sound related disturbance. The lack of evidence that the whales responded to seismic survey sound and vessel traffic by changing either their movement or respiration patterns could indicate that the current mitigation strategy is effective. However, power analyses suggest that our sample sizes were too small to detect subtle to moderate changes in gray whale behaviour. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sakhalin Aleutian Islands Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Endangered Species Research 30 53 71 |
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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 |
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Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 Gailey, G Sychenko, O McDonald, T Racca, R Rutenko, A Bröker, K Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
A seismic survey was conducted off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia in 2010. The survey area was adjacent to the only known near-shore feeding ground of the Critically Endangered population of western gray whales Eschrichtius robustus in the western Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands. This study examined the effectiveness of efforts to minimize the behavioural responses of the whales to vessel proximity and sound during the survey. Two shore-based behavioural observation teams monitored whale movements and respirations pre-, during and post-seismic survey. Theodolite tracking and focal-animal follow methods were used to collect behavioural data. Mixed linear models were used to examine deviations from ënormalí patterns in 10 movement and 7 respiration response variables in relation to vessel proximity, vessel/whale relative orientations and 8 received sound metrics to examine if seismic survey sound and/or vessel activity influenced the whalesí behaviour. Behavioural state and water depth were the best ënaturalí predictors of whale movements and respiration. After considering natural variation, none of the response variables were significantly associated with seismic survey or vessel sounds. A whaleís distance from shore and its orientation relative to the closest vessel were found to be significantly influenced by vessel proximity, which suggested some non-sound related disturbance. The lack of evidence that the whales responded to seismic survey sound and vessel traffic by changing either their movement or respiration patterns could indicate that the current mitigation strategy is effective. However, power analyses suggest that our sample sizes were too small to detect subtle to moderate changes in gray whale behaviour. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gailey, G Sychenko, O McDonald, T Racca, R Rutenko, A Bröker, K |
author_facet |
Gailey, G Sychenko, O McDonald, T Racca, R Rutenko, A Bröker, K |
author_sort |
Gailey, G |
title |
Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
title_short |
Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
title_full |
Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
title_fullStr |
Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-D seismic survey off northeastern Sakhalin Island, Russia |
title_sort |
behavioural responses of western gray whales to a 4-d seismic survey off northeastern sakhalin island, russia |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00713 https://doaj.org/article/726393eca9d7491da84bc6d81d4e5265 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Sakhalin Aleutian Islands |
genre_facet |
Sakhalin Aleutian Islands |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 30, Pp 53-71 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v30/p53-71/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00713 https://doaj.org/article/726393eca9d7491da84bc6d81d4e5265 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00713 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
30 |
container_start_page |
53 |
op_container_end_page |
71 |
_version_ |
1766181471737872384 |