A western gray whale mitigation and monitoring program for a 3-D seismic survey, Sakhalin Island, Russia.

The introduction of anthropogenic sounds into the marine environment can impact some marine mammals. Impacts can be greatly reduced if appropriate mitigation measures and monitoring are implemented. This paper concerns such measures undertaken by Exxon Neftegas Limited, as operator of the Sakhalin-1 Consortium, during the Odoptu 3-D seismic survey conducted during 17 August-9 September 2001. The key environmental issue was protection of the critically endangered western gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), which feeds in summer and fall primarily in the Piltun feeding area off northeast Sakhalin Island. Existing mitigation and monitoring practices for seismic surveys in other jurisdictions were evaluated to identify best practices for reducing impacts on feeding activity by western gray whales. Two buffer zones were established to protect whales from physical injury or undue disturbance during feeding. A 1 km buffer protected all whales from exposure to levels of sound energy potentially capable of producing physical injury. A 4-5 km buffer was established to avoid displacing western gray whales from feeding areas. Trained Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) on the seismic ship Nordic Explorer had the authority to shut down the air guns if whales were sighted within these buffers. Additional mitigation measures were also incorporated: Temporal mitigation was provided by rescheduling the program from June-August to August-September to avoid interference with spring arrival of migrating gray whales. The survey area was reduced by 19% to avoid certain waters <20 m deep where feeding whales concentrated and where seismic acquisition was a lower priority. The number of air guns and total volume of the air guns were reduced by about half (from 28 to 14 air guns and from 3,390 in(3) to 1,640 in(3)) relative to initial plans. "Ramp-up" (="soft-start") procedures were implemented. Monitoring activities were conducted as needed to implement some mitigation measures, and to assess residual impacts. Aerial and vessel-based surveys determined the distribution of whales before, during and after the seismic survey. Daily aerial reconnaissance helped verify whale-free areas and select the sequence of seismic lines to be surveyed. A scout vessel with MMOs aboard was positioned 4 km shoreward of the active seismic vessel to provide better visual coverage of the 4-5 km buffer and to help define the inshore edge of the 4-5 km buffer. A second scout vessel remained near the seismic vessel. Shore-based observers determined whale numbers, distribution, and behavior during and after the seismic survey. Acoustic monitoring documented received sound levels near and in the main whale feeding area. Statistical analyses of aerial survey data indicated that about 5-10 gray whales moved away from waters near (inshore of) the seismic survey during seismic operations. They shifted into the core gray whale feeding area farther south, and the proportion of gray whales observed feeding did not change over the study period. Five shutdowns of the air guns were invoked for gray whales seen within or near the buffer. A previously unknown gray whale feeding area (the Offshore feeding area) was discovered south and offshore from the nearshore Piltun feeding area. The Offshore area has subsequently been shown to be used by feeding gray whales during several years when no anthropogenic activity occurred near the Piltun feeding area.Shore-based counts indicated that whales continued to feed inshore of the Odoptu block throughout the seismic survey, with no significant correlation between gray whale abundance and seismic activity. Average values of most behavioral parameters were similar to those without seismic surveys. Univariate analysis showed no correlation between seismic sound levels and any behavioral parameter. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after allowance for environmental covariates, 5 of 11 behavioral parameters were statistically correlated with estimated seismic survey-related variables; 6 of 11 behavioral parameters were not statistically correlated with seismic survey-related variables. Behavioral parameters that were correlated with seismic variables were transient and within the range of variation attributable to environmental effects. Acoustic monitoring determined that the 4-5 km buffer zone, in conjunction with reduction of the air gun array to 14 guns and 1,640 in(3), was effective in limiting sound exposure. Within the Piltun feeding area, these mitigation measures were designed to insure that western gray whales were not exposed to received levels exceeding the 163 dB re 1 microPa (rms) threshold. This was among the most complex and intensive mitigation programs ever conducted for any marine mammal. It provided valuable new information about underwater sounds and gray whale responses during a nearshore seismic program that will be useful in planning future work. Overall, the efforts in 2001 were successful in reducing impacts to levels tolerable by western gray whales. Research in 2002-2005 suggested no biologically significant or population-level impacts of the 2001 seismic survey.

Underwater sounds near a fuel receiving facility in western Hong Kong: relevance to dolphins.

Western Hong Kong is home to two species of marine mammals: Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins (Sousa chinensis) and finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides). Both are threatened in many parts of their range in southeast Asia [for example, International Biological Research Institute Reports 9 (1997), 41; Asian Marine Biology 14 (1997) 111]. In 1998, when the new Hong Kong International Airport opened in western Hong Kong, small tankers (about 100 m long, cargo capacity about 6300 metric tons) began delivering fuel to the Aviation Fuel Receiving Facility (AFRF) just off Sha Chau Island, north of the airport. Calibrated sound recordings were taken over a 4-day period from a quiet, anchored boat at distances 80-2000 m from aviation fuel delivery activities at the AFRF. From the recordings, 143 sections were selected for analysis. Narrowband spectral densities on the sound pressures were computed, and one-third octave band levels were derived for center frequencies from 10 to 16,000 Hz. Broadband levels, viz. 10-20,000 Hz. were also computed. The results showed that the Sha Chau area is normally noisy underwater, with the lowest broadband levels measured corresponding to those expected during a storm at sea (sea state 6). This background noise is believed to come largely from heavy vessel traffic in the Urmston Road to the north and east of Sha Chau and from vessels in the Pearl River Estuary to the West. The sound levels from the AFRF tankers are comparable to the levels measured from similar- and smaller-sized supply vessels supporting offshore oil exploration. The strongest sounds recorded were from a tanker leaving the AFRF at distance 100 m from the hydrophone, for which the one-third octave band level at 100 Hz was 141 dB re 1 microPa (spectrum level 127 dB re 1 microPa2/Hz) and the 10-20,000 Hz broadband level was 146 dB. At distances of 100 m or more and frequencies above 300 Hz, the one-third octave band levels were less than 130 dB (spectrum level 111 dB re 1 microPa2/Hz) and decreased with increasing frequency and distance. At distances greater than about 500 m, AFRF-associated sounds were negligible, masked by the generally high noise level of the area and attenuated by poor transmission in the very shallow water (<10 m). Because it is believed that humpbacked dolphins and finless porpoises are not very sensitive to sounds below 300 Hz, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) stipulated that dedicated terminal vessels not radiate underwater sounds at spectrum levels greater than 110 dB re 1 microPa2/Hz at frequencies above 300 Hz and distances greater than 300 m. The spectrum levels at 300 Hz and higher frequencies of sounds from the tankers arriving, departing, or off-loading at AFRF were less than 110 dB re 1 microPa2/Hz even at distances of 200 m or less. The AA stipulation was met. However, it is presently unknown whether the generally strong noise levels of western Hong Kong inhibit acoustically based feeding and communication, or result in increased stress or permanent shifts in hearing thresholds.

Whistles of boto, Inia geoffrensis, and tucuxi, Sotalia fluviatilis.

Whistles were recorded and analyzed from free-ranging single or mixed species groups of boto and tucuxi in the Peruvian Amazon, with sonograms presented. Analysis revealed whistles recorded falling into two discrete groups: a low-frequency group with maximum frequency below 5 kHz, and a high-frequency group with maximum frequencies above 8 kHz and usually above 10 kHz. Whistles in the two groups differed significantly in all five measured variables (beginning frequency, end frequency, minimum frequency, maximum frequency, and duration). Comparisons with published details of whistles by other platanistoid river dolphins and by oceanic dolphins suggest that the low-frequency whistles were produced by boto, the high-frequency whistles by tucuxi. Tape recordings obtained on three occasions when only one species was present tentatively support this conclusion, but it is emphasized that this is based on few data.

A string matching computer-assisted system for dolphin photoidentification.

This paper presents a syntactic/semantic string representation scheme as well as a string matching method as part of a computer-assisted system to identify dolphins from photographs of their dorsal fins. A low-level string representation is constructed from the curvature function of a dolphin's fin trailing edge, consisting of positive and negative curvature primitives. A high-level string representation is then built over the low-level string via merging appropriate groupings of primitives in order to have a less sensitive representation to curvature fluctuations or noise. A family of syntactic/semantic distance measures between two strings is introduced. A composite distance measure is then defined and used as a dissimilarity measure for database search, highlighting both the syntax (structure or sequence) and semantic (attribute or feature) differences. The syntax consists of an ordered sequence of significant protrusions and intrusions on the edge, while the semantics consist of seven attributes extracted from the edge and its curvature function. The matching results are reported for a database of 624 images corresponding to 164 individual dolphins. The identification results indicate that the developed string matching method performs better than the previous matching methods including dorsal ratio, curvature, and curve matching. The developed computer-assisted system can help marine mammalogists in their identification of dolphins, since it allows them to examine only a handful of candidate images instead of the currently used manual searching of the entire database.

Development of an air bubble curtain to reduce underwater noise of percussive piling.

Underwater bubbles can inhibit sound transmission through water due to density mismatch and concomitant reflection and absorption of sound waves. For the present study, a perforated rubber hose was used to produce a bubble curtain, or screen, around pile-driving activity in 6-8-m depth waters of western Hong Kong. The percussive hammer blow sounds of the pile driver were measured on 2 days at distances of 250, 500, and 1000 m; broadband pulse levels were reduced by 3-5 dB by the bubble curtain. Sound intensities were measured from 100 Hz to 25.6 kHz, and greatest sound reduction by the bubble curtain was evident from 400 to 6400 Hz. Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphins (Sousa chinensis) occurred in the immediate area of the industrial activity before and during pile driving, but with a lower abundance immediately after it. While hump-backed dolphins generally showed no overt behavioral changes with and without pile driving, their speeds of travel increased during pile driving, indicating that bubble screening did not eliminate all behavioral responses to the loud noise. Because the bubble curtain effectively lowered sound levels within 1 km of the activity, the experiment and its application during construction represented a success, and this measure should be considered for other appropriate areas with high industrial noises and resident or migrating sound-sensitive animals.

Assisting manual dolphin identification by computer extraction of dorsal ratio.

Marine biologists use a measurement called the "Dorsal Ratio" in the process of manual identification of bottlenose dolphins. The dorsal ratio denotes the relative distances of the two largest notches from the tip on the dorsal fin. The manual computation of this ratio is time consuming, labor intensive, and user dependent. This paper presents a computer-assisted system to extract the dorsal ratio for use in identification of individual animals. The first component of the system consists of active contour modeling where the trailing edge of the dorsal fin is detected. This is followed by a curvature module to find the characteristic fin points: tip and two most prominent notches. Curvature smoothing is performed at various smoothing scales, and wavelet coefficients are utilized to select an appropriate smoothing scale. The dorsal ratio is then computed from the curvature function at the appropriate smoothing scale. The system was tested using 296 digitized images of dolphins, representing 94 individual dolphins. The results obtained indicate that the computer extracted dorsal ratio can be used in place of the manually extracted dorsal ratio as part of the manual identification process.

Relative abundance and behavior of marine mammals exposed to transmissions from the Heard Island Feasibility Test.

The Heard Island Feasibility Test source transmitted a hum at 209-220 dB re: 1 microPa at 175-m depth, centered on 57 Hz with a maximum bandwidth of 30 Hz for 1 h of every 3. Experienced marine mammal observers conducted line-transect surveys and monitored marine mammal behavior visually and acoustically in a 70 x 70 km square centered on the transmission site. Thirty-nine groups of cetaceans and 19 of pinnipeds were sighted from both vessels before the start of transmissions. Thirty-nine groups of cetaceans and 23 of pinnipeds were sighted during transmissions. Blue (Balaenoptera musculus), fin (B. physalus), and sperm (Physeter macrocephalus) whales were sighted during the base line period; blue, sperm, and possibly sei (B. borealis) whales were sighted during the transmission period. More schools of hourglass dolphins (Lagenorhynchus cruciger) were sighted during transmissions, but fewer groups of pilot whales (Globicephala melas), southern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon planifrons), and minke whales (B. acutorostrata). The density of all cetaceans was 0.0157 groups/km2 before the transmissions and 0.0166 groups/km2 during. Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) and southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) were seen, but not in sufficient numbers to estimate abundance. One blue whale tracked before, during and after a transmission changed respiration and reorientation rates, but did not avoid the source detectably. Sperm whales and pilot whales were heard in 23% of 1181 min of baseline acoustic surveys; but in none of 1939 min during the transmission period. Both species were heard within 48 h after the end of the test.

Cetaceans.

Cetaceans display numerous anatomic and physiologic adaptations to life in a dense, three-dimensional medium. Their bodies have changed radically from those of their terrestrial ancestors, yet their behaviors and types of social organization are broadly similar to those of animals on land. An exploration of cetacean ways helps in understanding how habitat influences habits. For example, it is now recognized that in some important ways, cetacean residents of the open ocean resemble some of their mammalian relatives on the savanna. As air breathers that are inseparably tied to the surface, cetaceans are highly trackable; they may thus help in the monitoring of habitat degradation and other long-term ecologic change.

Reactions of bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, to seismic exploration in the Canadian Beaufort Sea.

The behavioral reactions of bowhead whales to distant seismic vessels not under our control, a controlled approach by a seismic vessel, and controlled tests with a single airgun were observed. On 21 occasions in the summers of 1980-84, general activities of bowheads exposed to pulses of underwater noise (107-158 dB re: 1 mu Pa) from seismic vessels 6-99 km away were observed. Activities were indistinguishable from those without seismic noise; there was no detectable avoidance. Hints of subtle changes in surfacing, respiration, and diving behavior were unconfirmed, but were consistent with reactions to stronger noise pulses from closer seismic boats. In a test with a full-scale seismic boat (30 airguns totaling 471, source level 248 dB re: 1 mu Pa, closest point of approach = 1 1/2 km), bowheads began to orient away when the airgun array began to fire 7 1/2 km away. However, some whales continued apparent near-bottom feeding until the vessel was 3 km away. Whales were displaced by about 2 km. Reactions were not much stronger than those to any conventional vessel. Tests with one 0.66-1 airgun showed that some bowheads move away from sources of strong seismic impulses even in the absence of boat noise, and that bowheads can detect the direction from which seismic impulses arrive. In general, bowheads exhibit avoidance reactions when they receive seismic pulses stronger than about 160 dB re: 1 mu Pa. Evidence of reactions to lower received levels remains inconclusive.