Whales and seals Arctic Conservation planning

Vessel Strike Risk to Bowhead Whales - North American Arctic

Halliday, W. & Le Baron, N.

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Key points

• Our study provides information about potential hotspots for vessel strike risk, allowing wildlife managers to monitor these sites in more detail.
• The vessel strike risk hotspots identified in this study may be candidates for further management measures.

Abstract

Vessel traffic is increasing throughout the Arctic as sea ice is declining, leading to increased vessel strike risk for large whales. Vessel strikes are a leading cause of serious injury and mortality for baleen whales in areas of high traffic, but have rarely been studied in the Arctic. We examined vessel strike risk for two populations of bowhead whales, the Bering-Chukchi Beaufort (BCB) and Eastern Canada-West Greenland (ECWG), during the July-October open water shipping season.

This story map has been designed to accompany our recent paper in the journal Biological Conservation, "Overlap between bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and vessel traffic in the North American Arctic and implications for conservation and management", which can be viewed here . The goal of this story map is to provide more interactive maps, allowing readers to explore the data in more detail.

Recommended citation

Halliday, W. & Le Baron, N. (2022). Vessel Strike Risk to Bowhead Whales - North American Arctic. WCS Canada. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ee73139231d04426bb25998fe368c98c