Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge
Little is known about the ecological importance of fin whales found year-round in southwestern offshore Irish waters. Understanding their ecology is important to reduce potential harm through any spatio-temporal overlap with commercial shipping and fishing activities. This study explored the potenti...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111207 https://doaj.org/article/aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 2023-05-15T15:36:41+02:00 Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge Kavya Ramesh Simon Berrow Rossa Meade Joanne O’Brien 2021-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111207 https://doaj.org/article/aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1207 https://doaj.org/toc/2077-1312 doi:10.3390/jmse9111207 2077-1312 https://doaj.org/article/aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol 9, Iss 1207, p 1207 (2021) ocean noise underwater noise effects ocean noise mitigation shipping noise static acoustic monitoring baleen whales Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111207 2022-12-31T09:28:16Z Little is known about the ecological importance of fin whales found year-round in southwestern offshore Irish waters. Understanding their ecology is important to reduce potential harm through any spatio-temporal overlap with commercial shipping and fishing activities. This study explored the potential environmental drivers and impacts of low-frequency shipping noise on fin whale calling at Porcupine Ridge using the presence/absence of call detections as a proxy for observed changes due to possible masking. Acoustic call data was collected at a low sampling rate (2 ksps) from the end of March 2016 to June 2016 (97 days) using a bottom-moored autonomous acoustic recorder with an omni-directional hydrophone. The high zero-inflated and binary nature of the data was addressed using generalised linear models. The results of our habitat modelling predicted call detections to increase significantly during night-time ( p ≤ 0.01) with sea surface height and chlorophyll-a concentration ( p ≤ 0.01), implying higher prey availability may occur on Porcupine Ridge. It also indicated a significant decrease in call detections with increasing shipping noise ( p ≤ 0.01). Unfortunately, the model had a type II error. To provide robust results, a longer study not limited by data on the prey, and oceanographic drivers including spatial and temporal parameters is required. This study provides the foundations on which further ecological data could be added to establish management and mitigation measures to minimize the effects of shipping noise on fin whales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Omni ENVELOPE(144.232,144.232,59.863,59.863) Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 9 11 1207 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean noise underwater noise effects ocean noise mitigation shipping noise static acoustic monitoring baleen whales Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
ocean noise underwater noise effects ocean noise mitigation shipping noise static acoustic monitoring baleen whales Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 Kavya Ramesh Simon Berrow Rossa Meade Joanne O’Brien Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
topic_facet |
ocean noise underwater noise effects ocean noise mitigation shipping noise static acoustic monitoring baleen whales Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
Little is known about the ecological importance of fin whales found year-round in southwestern offshore Irish waters. Understanding their ecology is important to reduce potential harm through any spatio-temporal overlap with commercial shipping and fishing activities. This study explored the potential environmental drivers and impacts of low-frequency shipping noise on fin whale calling at Porcupine Ridge using the presence/absence of call detections as a proxy for observed changes due to possible masking. Acoustic call data was collected at a low sampling rate (2 ksps) from the end of March 2016 to June 2016 (97 days) using a bottom-moored autonomous acoustic recorder with an omni-directional hydrophone. The high zero-inflated and binary nature of the data was addressed using generalised linear models. The results of our habitat modelling predicted call detections to increase significantly during night-time ( p ≤ 0.01) with sea surface height and chlorophyll-a concentration ( p ≤ 0.01), implying higher prey availability may occur on Porcupine Ridge. It also indicated a significant decrease in call detections with increasing shipping noise ( p ≤ 0.01). Unfortunately, the model had a type II error. To provide robust results, a longer study not limited by data on the prey, and oceanographic drivers including spatial and temporal parameters is required. This study provides the foundations on which further ecological data could be added to establish management and mitigation measures to minimize the effects of shipping noise on fin whales. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kavya Ramesh Simon Berrow Rossa Meade Joanne O’Brien |
author_facet |
Kavya Ramesh Simon Berrow Rossa Meade Joanne O’Brien |
author_sort |
Kavya Ramesh |
title |
Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
title_short |
Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
title_full |
Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
title_fullStr |
Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat Modelling on the Potential Impacts of Shipping Noise on Fin Whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in Offshore Irish Waters off the Porcupine Ridge |
title_sort |
habitat modelling on the potential impacts of shipping noise on fin whales ( balaenoptera physalus ) in offshore irish waters off the porcupine ridge |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111207 https://doaj.org/article/aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(144.232,144.232,59.863,59.863) |
geographic |
Omni |
geographic_facet |
Omni |
genre |
Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale |
op_source |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol 9, Iss 1207, p 1207 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/11/1207 https://doaj.org/toc/2077-1312 doi:10.3390/jmse9111207 2077-1312 https://doaj.org/article/aa3163975763409fa5b16297b811e084 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9111207 |
container_title |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
1207 |
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1766367050107715584 |