Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia.
Centre Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, GPO Box U 1987, Perth 6845, WA, Australia.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2020 May;154:111072. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111072. Epub 2020 Mar 23.
Understanding the interactions between human activity in the ocean and marine mammals is a fundamental step to developing responsible mitigation measures and informing policy. Here, the response of migrating humpback whales to vessels towing seismic air gun arrays (on or off) was quantified as a reduction in their likelihood of socially interacting (joining together). Groups were significantly less likely to participate in a joining interaction in the presence of a vessel, regardless of whether or not the air guns were active. This reduction was especially pronounced in groups within a social environment that favored joining, that is, when singing whales or other groups were nearby. Seismic survey mitigation practices are designed primarily to prevent damage to whales' hearing from close-by sources. Here, we found potentially detrimental behavioral changes at much greater ranges, and much lower received levels, than those used for current mitigation recommendations.
了解人类在海洋中的活动与海洋哺乳动物之间的相互作用，是制定负责任的缓解措施和为政策提供信息的基本步骤。在这里，研究人员量化了迁徙的座头鲸对拖曳气枪阵列的船只（开或关）的反应，即它们进行社会互动（聚集）的可能性降低了。无论气枪是否活跃，船只的存在都使鲸群参与聚集互动的可能性显著降低。在有利于聚集的社会环境中，这种减少尤为明显，即当附近有唱歌的鲸鱼或其他群体时。地震调查缓解措施主要旨在防止近距离声源对鲸鱼听力造成损害。在这里，我们发现了潜在的有害行为变化，其发生范围比当前缓解建议中使用的范围大得多，而接收水平则低得多。
