Assessing and mitigating the impacts of whale-watching activities on humpback whales in Iceland

• Main Author: Grove, Thomas James
• Other Authors: Henry, Lea-Anne, Homer, Natalie, Henley, Sian, Rasmussen, Marianne
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: The University of Edinburgh 2024
• Subjects: whale-watching; physiological stress responses; behavioural responses; humpback whales; whale-watching vessels; Iceland; horizontal and vertical avoidance; cortisol levels; coastal stressors; Skjálfandi; Megaptera novaeangliae; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1842/41350; https://doi.org/10.7488/era/4085

Vessel-based whale-watching is a potential source of disturbance for target cetacean populations, with responses including avoidance and the disruption of key activities such as feeding, resting and communication. However, management of this industry to mitigate potential negative impacts is often u...