Whales and ships collision risk in a trafic maritime trade

ARGÜELLES, M.B.

Brighton

Otro; CBI Comité Científico Riesgo de Colisión; 2014

IWC

Lic.María Belén Argüelles, who belongs to the Ecophysiology Applied to Wildlife Managementand Conservation Laboratory of Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT-CONICET),Chubut, Argentina, reported there are areas close to Patagonian cites in Argentinathat are shared by Southern right whales and ships, which could generateconflicts related to the use of space. Nowadays, whales are concentrated aroundharbors and recreational use areas (water sports and whale watchingactivities), increasing a possible collision risk between whales and ships,especially in Bahía Nueva (Golfo Nuevo) where navigation constraints do notexist. Furthermore, a new area adjacent to this bay is intensively used bywhales, which perform dives longer than 20 min in an area with depths thatrange from 80 to 120 meters, and also used by ships as a route to enter to PuertoMadryn port, escalating the risk of collision with vessels when whales emergeto breathe. A total of five whales were tagged in November 2013 with a suctioncup device containing a time-depth recorder (TDR) in order to register whaledive patterns in the route of access to port. Results suggested thatindividuals tagged in Golfo Nuevo dived to depths close to 80 meters. Anunderstanding of whale distribution, abundance and diving patterns will beuseful for predicting the potential consequences of the human activities on thepopulation. Then, the collision risk evaluation and the resource management arecrucial to ensure a whale protection.