Arctic | Mammals
Novel assessment techniques for monitoring spotted seals at Alaska Arctic coastal haul-out sites Presenter: Donna Hauser , dhauser2@alaska.edu, University of Alaska Fairbanks, International Arctic Research Center Andrew Von Duyke , Andrew.VonDuyke@north-slope.org, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management Joshua Jones , jmjones8@alaska.edu, University of Alaska Fairbanks Recent decades in Alaska’s Arctic marine regions have been marked by unprecedented sea ice loss, contributing to widespread marine ecosystem changes and concerns regarding several key Arctic marine mammal species. There is a need to improve the understanding of how environmental conditions and anthropogenic factors affect the distribution, abundance, and behavior of these significant species, because it is relevant to the health of regional marine ecosystems and coastal Alaskan communities. Spotted seals ( Phoca largha ) are an ice-associated pinniped that is seasonally abundant throughout coastal regions of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during the summer and fall open-water periods, yet there are many knowledge gaps associated with the influence of environmental factors and increasing anthropogenic disturbance on their distribution and behavior. Spotted seals haul out in the dozens to thousands on barrier islands, sandbars, spits, shoals, rocks, and reefs from approximately July until mid-November. However, spotted seals are sensitive to disturbance by traditional marine mammal survey methods, such as manned aircraft, and no surveys for spotted seals have been conducted of their coastal haul-outs since the 1990s. Here, we report on pilot studies to evaluate the potential for new and emerging technologies to assess the seasonal presence, behavior, and relative numbers of spotted seals at summer-fall coastal haul-outs near Utqiaġvik, Alaska. We used time-lapse cameras deployed at 4 haul-out sites during the 2020-2022 open-water seasons as well as a short-duration small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) overflight in 2022 to test and refine remote camera and UAS survey methods for spotted seals. The presence and relative abundance of seals observed by our network of cameras varied across sites and years as well as by environmental conditions like wind speed or direction, sea state, and water level. In 2022, we successfully surveyed ~87 hauled out spotted seals using a sUAS at a minimum approach altitude of 107 m. We discuss our results in the context of applicability of these new techniques for monitoring spotted seal ecology, relative abundance, and behavior.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 285
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