Solway Hannah, Worm Boris, Wimmer Tonya, Tittensor Derek P
Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Marine Animal Response Society, Halifax, NS, Canada.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 15;20(1):e0315909. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315909. eCollection 2025.
Baleen whales are among the largest marine megafauna, and while mostly well-protected from direct exploitation, they are increasingly affected by vessel traffic, interactions with fisheries, and climate change. Adverse interactions, notably vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement, often result in distress, injury, or death for these animals. In Atlantic Canadian waters, such negative interactions or 'incidents' are consistently reported to marine animal response organizations but have not yet been analyzed relative to the spatial distribution of whales and vessels. Using a database of 483,003 whale sightings, 1,110 incident reports, and 82 million hours of maritime vessel activity, we conducted a spatiotemporal vulnerability analysis for all six baleen whale species occurring in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean by developing an ensemble of habitat-suitability models. The relative spatial risk of vessel-induced incidents was assessed for present (1985-2015) and projected near-future (2035-2055) distributions of baleen whales. Areas of high habitat suitability for multiple baleen whale species were intrinsically linked to sea surface temperature and salinity, with multispecies hotspots identified in the Bay of Fundy, Scotian Shelf, Laurentian Channel, Flemish Cap, and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Present-day model projections were independently evaluated using a separate database of acoustic detections and found to align well. Regions of high relative incident risk were projected close to densely inhabited regions, principal maritime routes, and major fishing grounds, in general coinciding with reported incident hotspots. While some high-risk regions already benefit from mitigation strategies aimed at protecting North Atlantic Right Whales, our analysis highlights the importance of considering risks to multiple species, both in the present day and under continued environmental change.
须鲸是最大的海洋巨型动物之一，虽然它们大多受到良好保护，免受直接开发利用，但它们越来越受到船只交通、与渔业的相互作用以及气候变化的影响。不利的相互作用，特别是船只撞击和渔具缠绕，常常导致这些动物遇险、受伤或死亡。在加拿大东部海域，此类负面相互作用或“事件”一直被报告给海洋动物反应组织，但尚未相对于鲸鱼和船只的空间分布进行分析。我们利用一个包含483,003次鲸鱼目击记录、1,110份事件报告和8,200万小时海上船只活动的数据库，通过开发一组栖息地适宜性模型，对西北大西洋出现的所有六种须鲸进行了时空脆弱性分析。我们评估了当前（1985 - 2015年）和预测的近期（2035 - 2055年）须鲸分布情况下，船只引发事件的相对空间风险。多种须鲸物种栖息地适宜性高的区域与海表温度和盐度有着内在联系，在芬迪湾、斯科舍陆架、劳伦斯海峡、 Flemish海角和圣劳伦斯湾发现了多物种热点区域。利用一个单独的声学探测数据库对当前的模型预测进行了独立评估，发现两者吻合度很高。预计高相对事件风险区域靠近人口密集地区、主要海上航线和主要渔场，总体上与报告的事件热点区域相符。虽然一些高风险区域已经受益于旨在保护北大西洋露脊鲸的缓解策略，但我们的分析强调了在当前以及持续的环境变化下，考虑对多个物种风险的重要性。
