Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay
During winter months, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) frequent the coastal waters of Virginia near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Located within the Bay is Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval military installation, and the Port of Virginia, the sixth busiest container port in...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9ee03a171dd84eb39d59b58f8caca076 2023-05-15T16:36:09+02:00 Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay Jessica M. Aschettino Daniel T. Engelhaupt Amy G. Engelhaupt Andrew DiMatteo Todd Pusser Michael F. Richlen Joel T. Bell 2020-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 https://doaj.org/article/9ee03a171dd84eb39d59b58f8caca076 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 https://doaj.org/article/9ee03a171dd84eb39d59b58f8caca076 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 7 (2020) humpback whale satellite telemetry tagging state-space modeling ship strike Megaptera novaeangliae Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 2022-12-31T12:13:04Z During winter months, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) frequent the coastal waters of Virginia near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Located within the Bay is Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval military installation, and the Port of Virginia, the sixth busiest container port in the United States. These large seaports, combined with the presence of recreational boaters, commercial fishing vessels, and sport-fishing boats, result in a constant heavy flow of vessel traffic through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent areas. From December 2015 to February 2017, 35 satellite tags were deployed on humpback whales to gain a better understanding on the occurrence, movements, site-fidelity, and overall behavior of this species within this high-traffic region. The tags transmitted data for an average of 13.7 days (range 2.7–43.8 days). Location data showed that at some point during tag deployment, nearly all whales occurred within, or in close proximity to, the shipping channels located in the study area. Approximately one quarter of all filtered and modeled locations occurred within the shipping channels. Hierarchical state-space modeling results suggest that humpback whales spend considerable time (82.0%) engaged in foraging behavior at or near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Of the 106 humpback whales photo-identified during this research, nine individuals (8.5%) had evidence of propeller strikes. One whale that had previously been tagged and tracked within shipping channels, was found dead on a local beach; a fatality resulting from a vessel strike. The findings from this study demonstrate that a substantial number of humpback whales frequent high-traffic areas near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the likelihood of injurious vessel interactions that can result in mortalities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Marine Science 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
humpback whale satellite telemetry tagging state-space modeling ship strike Megaptera novaeangliae Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
humpback whale satellite telemetry tagging state-space modeling ship strike Megaptera novaeangliae Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Jessica M. Aschettino Daniel T. Engelhaupt Amy G. Engelhaupt Andrew DiMatteo Todd Pusser Michael F. Richlen Joel T. Bell Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
topic_facet |
humpback whale satellite telemetry tagging state-space modeling ship strike Megaptera novaeangliae Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
During winter months, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) frequent the coastal waters of Virginia near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Located within the Bay is Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval military installation, and the Port of Virginia, the sixth busiest container port in the United States. These large seaports, combined with the presence of recreational boaters, commercial fishing vessels, and sport-fishing boats, result in a constant heavy flow of vessel traffic through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and adjacent areas. From December 2015 to February 2017, 35 satellite tags were deployed on humpback whales to gain a better understanding on the occurrence, movements, site-fidelity, and overall behavior of this species within this high-traffic region. The tags transmitted data for an average of 13.7 days (range 2.7–43.8 days). Location data showed that at some point during tag deployment, nearly all whales occurred within, or in close proximity to, the shipping channels located in the study area. Approximately one quarter of all filtered and modeled locations occurred within the shipping channels. Hierarchical state-space modeling results suggest that humpback whales spend considerable time (82.0%) engaged in foraging behavior at or near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Of the 106 humpback whales photo-identified during this research, nine individuals (8.5%) had evidence of propeller strikes. One whale that had previously been tagged and tracked within shipping channels, was found dead on a local beach; a fatality resulting from a vessel strike. The findings from this study demonstrate that a substantial number of humpback whales frequent high-traffic areas near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the likelihood of injurious vessel interactions that can result in mortalities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jessica M. Aschettino Daniel T. Engelhaupt Amy G. Engelhaupt Andrew DiMatteo Todd Pusser Michael F. Richlen Joel T. Bell |
author_facet |
Jessica M. Aschettino Daniel T. Engelhaupt Amy G. Engelhaupt Andrew DiMatteo Todd Pusser Michael F. Richlen Joel T. Bell |
author_sort |
Jessica M. Aschettino |
title |
Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
title_short |
Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
title_full |
Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
title_fullStr |
Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
Satellite Telemetry Reveals Spatial Overlap Between Vessel High-Traffic Areas and Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Near the Mouth of the Chesapeake Bay |
title_sort |
satellite telemetry reveals spatial overlap between vessel high-traffic areas and humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) near the mouth of the chesapeake bay |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 https://doaj.org/article/9ee03a171dd84eb39d59b58f8caca076 |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 7 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 https://doaj.org/article/9ee03a171dd84eb39d59b58f8caca076 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00121 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
7 |
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1766026463140642816 |