First indications that northern bottlenose whales are sensitive to behavioural disturbance from anthropogenic noise

-Although northern bottlenose whales were the most heavily hunted beaked whale, we have little information about this species in its remote habitat of the North Atlantic Ocean. Underwater anthropogenic noise and disruption of their natural habitat may be major threats, given the sensitivity of other beaked whales to such noise disturbance. We attached dataloggers to 13 northern bottlenose whales and compared their natural sounds and movements to those of one individual exposed to escalating levels of 1–2 kHz upsweep naval sonar signals. At a received sound pressure level (SPL) of 98 dB re 1 μPa, the whale turned to approach the sound source, but at a received SPL of 107 dB re 1 μPa, the whale began moving in an unusually straight course and then made a near 180° turn away from the source, and performed the longest and deepest dive (94 min, 2339 m) recorded for this species. Animal movement parameters differed significantly from baseline for more than 7 h until the tag fell off 33–36 km away. No clicks were emitted during the response period, indicating cessation of normal echolocation-based foraging. A sharp decline in both acoustic and visual detections of conspecifics after exposure suggests other whales in the area responded similarly. Though more data are needed, our results indicate high sensitivity of this species to acoustic disturbance, with consequent risk from marine industrialization and naval activity

Northern bottlenose whales in a pristine environment respond strongly to close and distant navy sonar signals

The research described in this paper was supported by US Office of Naval Research (ONR grants N00014-15-1-2533 and N00014-16-1-3059), US Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP award RC-2337), the French Ministry of Defence (DGA) and the Netherlands Ministry of Defence. P.L.T. acknowledges support from the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland; supported by the Scottish Funding Council, grant reference HR09011, and contributing institutions). All relevant data and scripts are within the paper and its electronic supplementary material, or available from the Dryad Digital Repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fc5c0s4Impact assessments for sonar operations typically use received sound levels to predict behavioural disturbance in marine mammals. However, there are indications that cetaceans may learn to associate exposures from distant sound sources with lower perceived risk. To investigate the roles of source distance and received level in an area without frequent sonar activity, we conducted multi-scale controlled exposure experiments (n = 3) with 12 northern bottlenose whales near Jan Mayen, Norway. Animals were tagged with high-resolution archival tags (n = 1 per experiment) or medium-resolution satellite tags (n = 9 in total) and subsequently exposed to sonar. We also deployed bottom-moored recorders to acoustically monitor for whales in the exposed area. Tagged whales initiated avoidance of the sound source over a wide range of distances (0.8–28 km), with responses characteristic of beaked whales. Both onset and intensity of response were better predicted by received sound pressure level (SPL) than by source distance. Avoidance threshold SPLs estimated for each whale ranged from 117–126 dB re 1 µPa, comparable to those of other tagged beaked whales. In this pristine underwater acoustic environment, we found no indication that the source distances tested in our experiments modulated the behavioural effects of sonar, as has been suggested for locations where whales are frequently exposed to sonar.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Acoustic detections of bottlenose whales

Data from two PAM recordings: JM1 (2015) and JM5 (2016

Data from: Northern bottlenose whales in a pristine environment respond strongly to close and distant navy sonar signals

Impact assessments for sonar operations typically use received sound levels to predict behavioural disturbance in marine mammals. However, there are indications that cetaceans may learn to associate exposures from distant sound sources with lower perceived risk. To investigate the roles of source distance and received level in an area without frequent sonar activity, we conducted multi-scale controlled exposure experiments (n=3) with 12 northern bottlenose whales near Jan Mayen, Norway. Animals were tagged with high-resolution archival tags (n=1 per experiment) or medium-resolution satellite tags (n=9 in total) and subsequently exposed to sonar. We also deployed bottom-moored recorders to acoustically monitor for whales in the exposed area. Tagged whales initiated avoidance of the sound source over a wide range of distances (0.8-28 km), with responses characteristic of beaked whales. Both onset and intensity of response were better predicted by received sound pressure level (SPL) than by source distance. Avoidance threshold SPLs estimated for each whale ranged from 117-126 dB re 1 µPa, comparable to those of other tagged beaked whales. In this pristine underwater acoustic environment we found no indication that the source distances tested in our experiments modulated the behavioural effects of sonar, as has been suggested for locations where whales are frequently exposed to sonar

Northern bottlenose whales in a pristine environment respond strongly to close and distant navy sonar signals

Impact assessments for sonar operations typically use received sound levels to predict behavioural disturbance in marine mammals. However, there are indications that cetaceans may learn to associate exposures from distant sound sources with lower perceived risk. To investigate the roles of source distance and received level in an area without frequent sonar activity, we conducted multi-scale controlled exposure experiments (n = 3) with 12 northern bottlenose whales near Jan Mayen, Norway. Animals were tagged with high-resolution archival tags (n = 1 per experiment) or medium-resolution satellite tags (n = 9 in total) and subsequently exposed to sonar. We also deployed bottom-moored recorders to acoustically monitor for whales in the exposed area. Tagged whales initiated avoidance of the sound source over a wide range of distances (0.8–28 km), with responses characteristic of beaked whales. Both onset and intensity of response were better predicted by received sound pressure level (SPL) than by source distance. Avoidance threshold SPLs estimated for each whale ranged from 117–126 dB re 1 µPa, comparable to those of other tagged beaked whales. In this pristine underwater acoustic environment, we found no indication that the source distances tested in our experiments modulated the behavioural effects of sonar, as has been suggested for locations where whales are frequently exposed to sonar

Controlled sonar exposure experiments on cetaceans in norwegian waters:Overview of the 3s-project

In mitigating the risk of sonar operations, the behavioral response of cetaceans is one of the major knowledge gaps that needs to be addressed. The 3SProject has conducted a number of controlled exposure experiments with a realistic sonar source in Norwegian waters from 2006 to 2013. In total, the following six target species have been studied: killer, long-finned pilot, sperm, humpback, minke, and northern bottlenose whales. A total of 38 controlled sonar exposures have been conducted on these species. Responses from controlled and repeated exposure runs have been recorded using acoustic and visual observations as well as with electronic tags on the target animal. So far, the first dose-response curves as well as an overview of the scored severity of responses have been revealed. In this paper, an overview is presented of the approach for the study, including the results so far as well as the current status of the ongoing analysis.</p