NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: physical sciences, sea ice, hydroacoustic survey, marine mammals

Objective(s): To assess and mitigate the impacts of increased shipping and sea-ice loss on marine mammals in the eastern Beaufort Sea.

Project Description: The main objective is to assess and mitigate the impacts of increased shipping and sea-ice loss on marine mammals in the eastern Beaufort Sea. The primary methodology is passive acoustic monitoring at the western entrances to the Northwest Passage shipping route, particularly the Amundsen Gulf and Banks Island area. To accomplish the objectives, the research team have designed a program to work with local communities to remotely monitor both marine mammal and shipping activities in the Amundsen Gulf and the eastern Beaufort Sea. The main monitoring effort involves passive acoustic monitors (PAM), acoustic dataloggers (recorders) that can be left unattended to record sounds and then retrieved for downloading and analysis. The team have deployed and recovered 11 recorders since 2014 in the Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok areas. Recorders are normally deployed via small craft based out of the local communities, at a depth of roughly 30 m based on handheld measures of water depth taken on site. If available, deeper water deployments may occur in collaboration with Department of Fisheries and Oceans moorings. Deployment gear includes a small anchor (e.g. soft sand-bags, ca. 10 kg, are used to minimize bottom impact), the recorder, and a 50-100 m drag line attached to a smaller anchor or an acoustic release. There are no surface floats on these deployments unless the recorders are to be recovered within the same season. The positively buoyant recorder is suspended above the ocean floor at an approximate depth of 25 m where it remains until it is manually recovered the following year. The instruments themselves are aluminum/fiberglass cylinders, roughly 1m in length by 0.1m width (ca. 3 x 0.5ft). Each recorder weighs approximately 20kg in air and is positively buoyant (ca. 10kg) under water. During the fall after each season's deployments/recoveries, results to date are expected to be shared with individuals and community representatives at the Inuvialuit Game Council meeting. In addition, the results can be shared in the communities during Hunters and Trappers Committee meetings, whenever possible during opportunistic discussions with community members. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 17, 2019 to December 31, 2019.