A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test
Cetacean entanglements in fishing gear cost governments, fishermen and stakeholders millions of dollars a year, and often result in serious injury or death of the entangled animals. Entanglements have been implicated in preventing the recovery of some large whale populations. Acoustic deterrents on...
Published in: | Endangered Species Research |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Inter-Research
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00614 https://doaj.org/article/d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e 2023-05-15T16:36:07+02:00 A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test R Harcourt V Pirotta G Heller V Peddemors D Slip 2014-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00614 https://doaj.org/article/d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v25/n1/p35-42/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00614 https://doaj.org/article/d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e Endangered Species Research, Vol 25, Iss 1, Pp 35-42 (2014) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00614 2022-12-30T20:22:02Z Cetacean entanglements in fishing gear cost governments, fishermen and stakeholders millions of dollars a year, and often result in serious injury or death of the entangled animals. Entanglements have been implicated in preventing the recovery of some large whale populations. Acoustic deterrents on fishing nets are widely used to reduce incidental captures of dolphins and porpoises, but there is little evidence as to whether they effectively deter large whales. We tested whether a low-frequency whale alarm (3 kHz Whale Pinger®, 135 ± 5 db, 5 s emission interval and 400 ms emission duration) deterred Southern Hemisphere humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae from approaching a potential source of entanglement. Northerly migrating humpback whale pods were tracked by an observer blind to alarm status (on/off) as they passed an alarm moored in the centre of the peak migration path. Of 137 pods tracked, 82 (60%) passed within the assumed detectable range (500 m) of the alarm, 51/78 (65%) when it was on and 31/59 (52%) when it was off (p = 0.18). There was no discernible response to the alarm. Whale pods did not differ in directionality, course heading or dive duration when within detectable range of the alarm, whether it was on or off, and a number of pods passed directly over the alarm while it was operational. This suggests that single alarms as currently configured and attached to a trap or pot line are unlikely to effectively deter humpback whales from approaching potential hazards, at least during their northerly migration phase. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Endangered Species Research 25 1 35 42 |
institution |
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 R Harcourt V Pirotta G Heller V Peddemors D Slip A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
Cetacean entanglements in fishing gear cost governments, fishermen and stakeholders millions of dollars a year, and often result in serious injury or death of the entangled animals. Entanglements have been implicated in preventing the recovery of some large whale populations. Acoustic deterrents on fishing nets are widely used to reduce incidental captures of dolphins and porpoises, but there is little evidence as to whether they effectively deter large whales. We tested whether a low-frequency whale alarm (3 kHz Whale Pinger®, 135 ± 5 db, 5 s emission interval and 400 ms emission duration) deterred Southern Hemisphere humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae from approaching a potential source of entanglement. Northerly migrating humpback whale pods were tracked by an observer blind to alarm status (on/off) as they passed an alarm moored in the centre of the peak migration path. Of 137 pods tracked, 82 (60%) passed within the assumed detectable range (500 m) of the alarm, 51/78 (65%) when it was on and 31/59 (52%) when it was off (p = 0.18). There was no discernible response to the alarm. Whale pods did not differ in directionality, course heading or dive duration when within detectable range of the alarm, whether it was on or off, and a number of pods passed directly over the alarm while it was operational. This suggests that single alarms as currently configured and attached to a trap or pot line are unlikely to effectively deter humpback whales from approaching potential hazards, at least during their northerly migration phase. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
R Harcourt V Pirotta G Heller V Peddemors D Slip |
author_facet |
R Harcourt V Pirotta G Heller V Peddemors D Slip |
author_sort |
R Harcourt |
title |
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
title_short |
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
title_full |
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
title_fullStr |
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
title_full_unstemmed |
A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
title_sort |
whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00614 https://doaj.org/article/d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 25, Iss 1, Pp 35-42 (2014) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v25/n1/p35-42/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr00614 https://doaj.org/article/d635da1b31d04dc887fea5e81c94118e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00614 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
35 |
op_container_end_page |
42 |
_version_ |
1766026424784781312 |