Analysing Marine Vessel Effects on Whales in Boundary Pass, British Columbia

萨利什海的边界通道是许多鲸鱼物种的重要捕食区，也是商业船只的主要航道，也是捕鱼、娱乐和观鲸船只的目的地(图1)。边界山口位于土星岛东南部，被确定为濒临灭绝的SRKW的关键栖息地，并支持觅食“特别关注”物种HBW。鲸鱼的关键栖息地受到加拿大《濒危物种法》的保护，明确提到声学干扰是一种破坏栖息地的形式。船只噪音被认为是濒危的SRKW无法恢复的主要因素之一，也是须鲸(包括HBW)受到干扰的一个重要来源。主要通过目视扫描和跟踪调查评估了鲸鱼在萨利什海船只周围的行为。由于鲸鱼在海面下花费大量时间，这项研究计划将陆基海面跟踪与水下水听器探测配对。我们建议使用实时声学数据流来测量宽带频率上的环境噪声水平，并评估鲸鱼发声中使用的关键频率范围。深度学习(DL)算法将测试其在检测和分类座头鲸和虎鲸发声方面的精确度和记忆力。我们将使用海洋船只的AIS轨迹、声源水平和声音传播模型来评估鲸鱼位置的噪音水平。我将调查鲸鱼呼叫率随接收到的噪音水平和船只接近程度的变化，以及由于其他鲸鱼接近而导致的行为变化。这个项目的总体目标将是评估鲸鱼的行为是如何演变和适应来自船只、船只和其他鲸鱼的干扰的。

Boundary Pass in the Salish Sea is an important feeding area for many species of whales, and is a major shipping route for commercial vessels as well as a destination for fishing, recreational, and whale watching boats (Figure 1). Boundary Pass lies southeast of Saturna Island and is identified as Critical Habitat for the endangered SRKW and supports foraging HBW, a species of 'Special Concern'. Critical Habitat for whales is protected by the Canadian Species at Risk Act with an explicit reference to acoustic disturbance as a form of habitat destruction. Vessel noise is considered one of the main contributing factors to the lack of recovery of the endangered SRKW, as well is a signficant source of disturbance for baleen whales (including HBW). Behaviour of whales around vessels in the Salish Sea has been assessed mainly using visual scan and tracking surveys. Since whales spend significant time beneath the ocean surface, this research proposal will pair land-based surface tracking with underwater hydrophone detections. We propose to use real-time streams of acoustic data to measure both ambient noise levels across broadband frequencies, but also to assess key frequency ranges used in whale vocalisations. Deep Learning (DL) algorithms will be tested for their precision and recall in detecting and classifying humpback and killer whale vocalisations. We will use AIS tracks of marine vessels, source levels and sound propagation models to assess noise levels at whale locations. I will investigate whale call rates as a function of received noise level and vessel proximity, as well as behaviour changes due to proximity of other whales. The overall goals of this project will be to evaluate how whale behaviour evolves and adapts to disturbance from ships, boats, and others whales in Boundary Pass.