Abstract
Context: Shipping impacts are a major environmental concern that can affect the behaviour and health of marine mammals and fishes. The potential impacts of shipping within marine parks is rarely considered during the planning process.
Aims: We assessed the areal disturbance footprint of shipping around Australia, its overlap with marine parks, and known locations of megafauna, so as to identify areas of concern that warrant further investigation.
Methods: Automatic Identification System (AIS) shipping data from 2018 to 2021 were interpreted through a kernel-density distribution and compared with satellite data from ∼200 individuals of megafauna amalgamated from 2003 to 2018, and the locations of marine parks.
Key results: Over 18% of marine parks had shipping exposure in excess of 365 vessels per year. Around all of Australia, 39% of satellite-tag reports from whale shark and 36.7% of pygmy blue and humpback whale satellite-tag reports were in moderate shipping-exposure areas (>90 ships per year). Shipping exposure significantly increased from 2018 despite the pandemic, including within marine parks.
Conclusions: These results highlight the wide-scale footprint of commercial shipping on marine ecosystems that may be increasing in intensity over time.
Implications: Consideration should be made for assessing and potentially limiting shipping impacts along migration routes and within marine parks.
Aims: We assessed the areal disturbance footprint of shipping around Australia, its overlap with marine parks, and known locations of megafauna, so as to identify areas of concern that warrant further investigation.
Methods: Automatic Identification System (AIS) shipping data from 2018 to 2021 were interpreted through a kernel-density distribution and compared with satellite data from ∼200 individuals of megafauna amalgamated from 2003 to 2018, and the locations of marine parks.
Key results: Over 18% of marine parks had shipping exposure in excess of 365 vessels per year. Around all of Australia, 39% of satellite-tag reports from whale shark and 36.7% of pygmy blue and humpback whale satellite-tag reports were in moderate shipping-exposure areas (>90 ships per year). Shipping exposure significantly increased from 2018 despite the pandemic, including within marine parks.
Conclusions: These results highlight the wide-scale footprint of commercial shipping on marine ecosystems that may be increasing in intensity over time.
Implications: Consideration should be made for assessing and potentially limiting shipping impacts along migration routes and within marine parks.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 75-85 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Marine and Freshwater Research |
| Volume | 74 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 28 Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- acoustic pollution
- AIS
- marine parks
- satellite tag
- shark
- ship strikes
- shipping
- whale