VESSEL NOISE AND ORCA VOCALIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY ALEXANDRA KOUGENTAKIS BEAM REACH FALL beamreach.org/071

Resident Orcas: Highly Social Vocalization types are echolocation, whistles and pulsed calls. Hunting, traveling, mating and social behaviors all depend upon communication Pulsed call Echolocation click Whistle

Ambient Noise Wind and waves Vessels Sonar Offshore construction

Underwater sound propagation Sound travels well in water: 1500m/sec in sea vs 343 m/sec in air Sound energy propagates from its source in a circle Distance and source level are most important to received level Also temperature, depth, bathymetry, salinity

2006 National Marine Fisheries Service Orca Recovery Plan Endangered species status for SKRWs in 2005 Vessel noise is one of the three “threats to orca survival” Noise level may mask orca calls Risk of hearing loss Behavioral changes in presence of boats (Erbe, 2002)

Be Whale Wise and Ordinance #35–2007 Soundwatch and The Whale Museum of San Juan Island Guidelines for boater behavior: 100 yard/meter no- go zone, slow zone <7 knots from yards/meters 2007 law: $750 fine for approaching orcas closer than 100m

My Research Focus Characterization of the noise of individual boats Assessing vessel-amplified ambient noise Source levels of orca calls Interaction between vessel noise and orca calls Assessment of “Be Whale Wise” guidelines

The Research Process Four weeks of data collection aboard the Gato Verde. Array of four hydrophones deployed Descriptive data collection for boats Beam Reach Analyzer and Ishmael software used for analysis

Modeling within the Study Sound propagation: SL = RL +TL x LOG(R) -Dinghy experiment Gato Verde as an orca –Measurement of ambient noise to simulate what orcas are cumulatively exposed to

Findings 19 Individual Vessel Recordings Use of experimental spreading model to estimate source levels: SL = RL x LOG(R)

Comparing noise level, speed and boat types

Cumulative Vessel Data 11 Data Points Data points reflect average RLs of 1-3 sequential recordings Simulation of what orcas may experience under typical conditions Sound propagation modeling not used here, potentially more accurate and/or informative

Interactions between vessel noise and orca vocalization  Orca call SL increases when background noise goes up  This trend has also been previously found (Holt et al, 2007)

Comparing noise power levels of vessels and orcas Power of vessel signal is close to that of orca call, direct competition Substantially lower power level for ambient Difference between ambient and orca SL determines hearing range

What the “Be Whale Wise” guidelines actually mean for orcas Meters for Canadian, yards for US vessels Less than 1 dB difference between two units

Possible areas for improvement Vessel noise might be better assessed by further limiting distance for recording Communication with boat operators for more accurate assessment of the speed-noise relationship Observational data to corroborate orca range computer estimates Reexamination of sound spreading model used

What this research means for policy Need to limit increase of ambient underwater noise levels via multiple means Ordinance # sets a minimum legal distance Limit speed close to orcas: Be Whale Wise Number of boats at a time is also important

REFERENCES “Be Whale Wise.” (2006) Soundwatch Boater Education Program. The Whale Museum. Available soundwatch/whaleBro pdf. Erbe, Christine (2002). “Underwater Noise of Whale-watching Boats and Potential Effects on Killer Whales (Orcinus orca), Based on an Acoustic Impact Model.” Marine Mammal Science. 18(2): Holt, Marla M.; Veirs, Val; Veirs, Scott. “Noise Effects on the Call Amplitude of Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca).” Presented at Nyborg Conference. August “Ordinance NO ” San Juan County Council. News. Available “Proposed Recovery Plan for Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca).” National Marine Fisheries Service Northwest Regional Office. November Available Szymanski, M.D., D.E. Bain, K. Kiehl, S. Pennington, S. Wong, and K.R. Henry. (1999) Killer whale (Orcinus orca) hearing: Auditory brainstem response and behavioral audiograms. Journal of The Acoustic Society of America. 106 (2):

QUESTIONS?

Orca hearing ability Orca hearing is most sensitive at 20 kHz Calls are usually between 1 and 10 kHz, harmonics up to 30 Mean SL of orca call is dB Szymanski et al, 1999

Number of boats and ambient noise Data plotted here excludes outlier of 4 boats that included a tanker Lack of strong linear relationship signifies importance of individual vessel qualities