Widespread exposure of marine parks, whales, and whale sharks to shipping

Context: Shipping impacts are a major environmental concern that can affect the behaviour and health of marine mammals and fishes. The potential impacts of shipping within marine parks is rarely considered during the planning process. Aims: We assessed the areal disturbance footprint of shipping aro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine and Freshwater Research
Main Authors: Raoult, Vincent, Pirotta, Vanessa, Gaston, Troy F., Norman, Brad, Reynolds, Samantha, Smith, Tim. M, Double, Mike, How, Jason, Hayward, Matt W.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
acoustic pollution
AIS
marine parks
satellite tag
shark
ship strikes
shipping
whale
Humpback Whale
Online Access:https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/e289cc1a-0717-4bef-920f-28cb68a70219
https://doi.org/10.1071/MF22050
https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/files/307122138/306792355.pdf
Description
Summary:Context: Shipping impacts are a major environmental concern that can affect the behaviour and health of marine mammals and fishes. The potential impacts of shipping within marine parks is rarely considered during the planning process. Aims: We assessed the areal disturbance footprint of shipping around Australia, its overlap with marine parks, and known locations of megafauna, so as to identify areas of concern that warrant further investigation. Methods: Automatic Identification System (AIS) shipping data from 2018 to 2021 were interpreted through a kernel-density distribution and compared with satellite data from ∼200 individuals of megafauna amalgamated from 2003 to 2018, and the locations of marine parks. Key results: Over 18% of marine parks had shipping exposure in excess of 365 vessels per year. Around all of Australia, 39% of satellite-tag reports from whale shark and 36.7% of pygmy blue and humpback whale satellite-tag reports were in moderate shipping-exposure areas (>90 ships per year). Shipping exposure significantly increased from 2018 despite the pandemic, including within marine parks. Conclusions: These results highlight the wide-scale footprint of commercial shipping on marine ecosystems that may be increasing in intensity over time. Implications: Consideration should be made for assessing and potentially limiting shipping impacts along migration routes and within marine parks.

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