WHERE THE WHALES (AND WHALE RESEARCHERS) ARE

by oceansadminHabitat, Human Impacts, Populations, WhalesPosted on No Comments

 

A global summary of where researchers have published density estimates for whales, dolphins and porpoises (from Kaschner et al. 2012)

Rob and his colleagues published a neat new paper today in the open access journal, PLOS ONE.  The paper, led by Dr Kristin Kaschner at the University of Freiburg, examined >1100 estimates of the abundance of whales, dolphins and porpoises reported in more than 400 surveys conducted worldwide between 1975 and 2005.

It is hard to convey how boring science can be sometimes.  

During the research, the team digitized thousands of maps, so you don’t have to.  Seriously.  Kristin made the data for the map (above) available for download, in case you ever want to do a global analysis of where people have and haven’t surveyed for whales.  Here’s what was learned about the global patchiness of whale and dolphin research.  Overall, only 25% of the world’s ocean surface has been surveyed at all, while only 6% has been covered well enough to offer any hope of detecting trends in population size.  Other findings included:

  • The vast majority of surveying effort has taken place in waters under the jurisdiction of wealthy, northern hemisphere countries like the US, Canada and Europe.
  • Southern hemisphere regions are underrepresented, except the Antarctic, where the International Whaling Commission leads surveys to estimate abundance of the Antarctic minke whale, which is subject to scientific whaling by Japan.
  • Few surveys have taken place in high-seas waters beyond national jurisdiction.  This hinders global initiatives to implement high-seas marine protected areas that reflect the habitat needs of whales and dolphins.
  • The level of survey effort conducted in the eastern tropical Pacific may look excessive but is actually at the low end of what is needed to detect population trends.
  • The main focus for surveying populations was in tuna fishing regions due to the market for “dolphin-friendly” tuna, with more surveys in the eastern tropic Pacific Ocean than in the rest of world combined.

Our ability to protect cetaceans from threats such as military sonar, seismic surveys (for offshore oil exploration), oil spills or bycatch in fisheries hinges on good information, and this latest research indicates a lack of baseline information to evaluate threats across the vast majority of the world’s oceans.  As international efforts are underway to protect global biodiversity, the researchers conclude there is an urgent need to develop new methods to fill in data gaps which can in turn improve marine conservation efforts.

 

Here are some quotes from the authors:

Dr Nicola Quick, co-author and honorary research fellow from the University of St Andrews, commented: “One of the primary motivations for our research was to know where whales might be most vulnerable to the use of military sonar or seismic surveys to find oil under the seabed. The enormous data gaps we found in our study remind us that we still have a lot of work to do to predict whether vulnerable species might be using the waters that have never been surveyed.  We recommend international coordination of surveys to share resources to fill in these gaps.”

When looking at the coverage in the eastern tropical Pacific, Kristin noted that “the rest of the world has a lot of catching up to do if we want to know if whale populations are recovering from historic whaling or bycatch in fisheries. The issue of data gaps pervades every issue in marine planning, from fisheries management to marine protected areas.  Because of the strict science needs of whaling, the information available on whales and dolphins may paint an optimistic picture of marine science.  Knowledge gaps are almost certainly worse for deep-sea invertebrates, sharks or marine viruses.”

Oceans Initiative co-founder, Dr Rob Williams (who is also a Researcher in the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews) added: “One of the most important management and conservation decisions we make is how to allocate scarce funding for research.  As we aim to protect marine biodiversity on a global scale, we need to ensure that our scientific advice reflects the fact that the vast majority of the world ocean has never been surveyed in a comprehensive way. If we ignore that, our advice is biased toward coastal waters of wealthy countries, and that is unjust.”

 

Whale stranding in Scotland

by oceansadminHuman ImpactsPosted on One Comment

Recently (2 September 2012), 26 pilot whales stranded on the beach about a mile from the place where we’re staying in Anstruther, Scotland.  The whales came ashore just a few feet from the coastal path where we run with our dog, Wishart.  Pilot whales are normally found in deeper water, so this was highly unusual and highly distressing.  Many capable people from our research group at the University of St Andrews, Sea Mammal Research Unit, were at the ready to assist.  In the United Kingdom, the British Divers Marine Life Rescue take the lead (with the help of veterinarians) on refloating the whales that are still alive.  Later, postmortems, or necropsies, are performed on the whales that do not survive.

 

 

Every whale stranding is a loss.  But, along with this loss is a scientific opportunity to learn more about why whales strand generally and why these whales stranded in particular.  Marine mammals can strand for a variety of reasons including disease, starvation, entanglement in fishing gear, trauma from tactical sonar, and injuries from ship strikes.  We look forward to hearing the results of the detailed necropsies conducted on the animals that died during this event.  In addition to the animal welfare concerns, which are paramount, we see an important role for science to play in these strandings, because there are some tests that can only be conducted on animals while they are still alive. At a recent workshop on noise and stress, one of the biggest recommendations was that opportunities like this recent stranding need to be exploited to conduct stress-related research so that we can better understand the impact of human activities on whales.  Every time we attend a meeting on ocean noise and whales, we’re reminded that we are still missing basic information on hearing abilities in many marine mammal species.

We understand that these whales are suffering, and the last thing they need is some cold-hearted scientist poking and prodding it to take a blood sample.  These are inherently stressful situations.  But just as you learn a lot when your doctor takes a blood or urine sample, these tragedies present an important opportunity to learn what we can from living whales to help us figure out why whales strand and advance our knowledge on marine mammal physiology and biology so that we can better protect the survivors and their habitat.

The resulting information dramatically improves our ability to answer the questions that everyone will ask after a stranding:  Why did it happen?  How can we prevent it from happening again?

 

If you see a marine mammal stranding, please contact the authorities in your country.

In the US

NOAA Marine Mammal Stranding Networks:

In Canada

Marine Animal Strandings and Entanglement Response Program

Toll Free: 1-888-895-3003

 

In the UK

British Divers:

 

A CRASH COURSE IN OCEAN ACOUSTICS

by oceansadminAcousticsPosted on No Comments

Interested in sound in the ocean, but confused about where to start? Do your eyes glaze over when you read about decibels, kilohertz & logarithmic scales?

YOU’RE IN LUCK!

Here are a couple of reports that we found to be gentle introductions to the physics of sound in the ocean.  One is a great booklet written for the US Marine Mammal Commission. The other is an acoustics pocketbook by our colleague, Dr Christine Erbe.  Hope you find them as helpful as we did.  Be sure to check out our latest acoustics work here.

Be sure to check out the latest work by our colleagues who study effects of ocean noise on right whales.  And don’t forget to check out our infographic on ocean noise levels in critical whale habitats in BC.

The world’s biggest dolphin eating the world’s coolest dolphin

by oceansadminDolphins, Whales, Women in SciencePosted on 2 Comments

During a seemingly ordinary fall day with dolphins,  I captured killer whales attacking and eating a dolphin on film.  It inspired me to devote a chapter of my PhD to killer whale predation on dolphins and the incredibly dynamic interaction unfolding between an intelligent, efficient predator and its similarly intelligent prey.  I’m hooked.  There is so much to learn about this process.  Our colleagues have written very cool papers describing how mammal-eating killer whales attack and kill their prey:  here’s one and here’s another.  And someone has just posted another cool video of dolphins and killer whales off Hyacinthe Island.  We’ve been trying to track down whoever shot that video so we can compare notes.  If you know who they are, could you please put us in touch?  Thanks!

The Pacific white-sided dolphins we study are engaged in a daily struggle between finding food and avoiding being eaten.  Some days are better than others.  If you look in any field guide to marine mammals, you’ll find that Pacific white-sided dolphins are supposed to be an offshore, open-ocean species.  We think these dolphins are here, in the inshore waters of British Columbia off northeastern Vancouver Island, in part to take advantage of fairly reliable food sources like herring and other small, schooling fish.  We also think that chasing fish in these parts carries a serious risk.  Death.  This area is known for reliably seeing resident, salmon-eating killer whales, but the inlets that the dolphins use are also prime hunting spots for mammal-eating, transient or Bigg’s killer whales.

A lot of the work we do is to understand the choices that these dolphins make between finding food and avoiding predators.  While dolphins may not avoid predation altogether, they might have some behaviors up their sleeves that allow them to survive in habitat where predators could be around every corner.  Maybe they cut their foraging a bit short here and there, or keep quiet to elude detection by the killer whales highly-evolved sensory systems.  But smart as dolphins are, they’re not going to 100% effective at avoiding predators.  And hey:  killer whales (OK, you know that killer whales are the biggest member of the dolphin family, right?) have to eat, too.

Why are you in Scotland when the whales you study are in Canada?

by oceansadminConservation, WhalesPosted on No Comments

We get asked that question a lot.

Today, we saw the best answer possible to that question, in E.O. Wilson’s amazing TED talk, called “Advice to Young Scientists”. We’ll wait while you watch it.

Wilson outlines the lessons learned from his career in interdisciplinary science as a series of basic principles, but the most important one is this:

Don’t worry if you love biology but are afraid of math.

You can learn math the way you learn any other language. You can earn excellence in your field, whatever your level of statistical expertise. And you can always find statisticians to collaborate with.

Which is the answer to our Scottish-Canadian mismatch question. Yes, our whales are in Canada, but some of the world’s best statisticians who work on conservation biology work at the University of St Andrews. We’re extraordinarily lucky to work with them, and extraordinarily grateful that these statisticians are interested in the biology we do. And when these statisticians offered to help us spend 2 years improving the science we do, so we can better protect the whales and dolphins we study, we leapt at the chance.

The Pacific Northwest is special too. We could do field work or analysis anywhere, but it’s only in British Columbia where our field work is integrated seamlessly into our everyday lives. We’re looking forward to getting back to the field briefly next month, and on a more permanent basis when we move back home in December.

Wilson also outlined a principle about choosing ideal study animals and research questions. He believes that for every problem in science, there is a species ideally suited to study that problem. Conversely, for every species you study, there is an important scientific problem for which that species offers an opportunity to develop a solution.

Our primary study animals (killer whales & Pacific white-sided dolphins) represent a great span from data-rich to data-sparse systems, and the other species we study (e.g., fin & humpback whales, sharks & mola mola) are intermediate points along that spectrum. With resident killer whales, we’re constantly running into the need to do analyses that take into account how much is known about these animals. It becomes a challenge to make our studies sufficiently generic that they can be applied to other populations of whales around the world. Pacific white-sided dolphins, on the other hand, represent much more of a blank canvas. All of the research that we do on them feels pioneering. Discoveries hide around every corner. Just getting enough data points to fit a simple statistical model can be a challenge. But this tension — between well studied and poorly studied animals, or between rare or abundant populations — is the fascinating and exciting part of our work.  It’s our passion.

But passion takes work too. We think that Julia Child said it best:

“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

That last bit — keep interested — is the key. In any field of science (or when perfecting your boeuf bourguignon recipe), the novelty wears off quickly. You have to sustain it, and that’s hard work. It can also be expensive work. Science, like fashion, has its trends, and it can be tempting to follow those trends. Funders and scientific journal editors like it when you follow those trends by placing your research questions in the context of the latest hot topic. It can help you build a solid and safe career. But there is something inordinately satisfying about creating your own trend. We start every project by finding out what’s already being done by our colleagues, and we try to explore new territory.  Because we find funding for every project we do, and because the animals we study face so many competing conservation threats, it is important to us that we not reinvent the wheel. We deliberately seek out the margins, and that can feel a bit uncomfortable at times. We were thrilled to hear Professor Wilson address this in his TED talk: in the military, there is a famous saying that soldiers should follow the sound of the guns. In science, Wilson encourages us to move in the opposite direction of the guns. He says,

“Don’t follow the fray. Make your own fray.”

Thanks for helping us to make our own fray.