Study: whale and boat hits more common
Print Edition
A group of marine scientists says collisions of whales and boats off the New England coast may be more common than previously thought.
The scientists focused on the humpback whale population in the southern Gulf of Maine, a body of water off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. They found that almost 15 percent of the whales, which come to New England to feed every spring, had injuries or scarring consistent with at least one vessel strike.
The researchers, who published their findings in the March issue of the journal Marine Mammal Science, said the work shows that the occurrence of such strikes is most likely underestimated. They also said their own figure is likely low because it does not account for whales killed in ship strikes.
“Vessel strikes are a significant risk to both whales and to boaters,” said Alex Hill, the lead author of the study, who is a scientist with conservation group Whale and Dolphin Conservation, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. “Long term studies can help us figure out if our outreach programs to boaters are effective, what kind of management actions are needed and help to assess the health of the population.”
Other scientists have also studied if ship strikes have the ability to negatively affect whale populations, and the subject is a source of some debate.
A 2014 study of 171 blue whales in the eastern North Pacific that appeared in PLOS ONE stated that modifications to shipping lanes could “reduce the likelihood of collisions with vessels.” But a study that appeared in Marine Mammal Science that same year said mitigating ship strikes would have a minimal impact on the blue whales.
Off Alaska, 25 of 108 reported whale collisions that occurred between 1978 and 2011 resulted in the animal’s death, according to a 2012 report in the Journal of Marine Biology.
For the study, the authors reviewed over 200,000 photos of 624 individual humpback whales over nine years.
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