Kakila database: Towards a FAIR community approved database of cetacean presence in the waters of the Guadeloupe Archipelago, based on citizen science

Abstract

In the French West Indies, more than 20 species of cetaceans have been observed over the last decades. The recognition of this hotspot of biodiversity of marine mammals, observed in the French Exclusive Economic Zone of the West Indies, motivated the French government to create in 2010 a marine protected area (MPA) dedicated to the conservation of marine mammals: the Agoa Sanctuary. Threats that cetacean populations face are multiple, but well-documented. Cetacean conservation can only be achieved if relevant and reliable data are available, starting by occurrence data. In the Guadeloupe Archipelago and in addition to some data collected by the Agoa Sanctuary, occurrence data are mainly available through the contribution of citizen science and of local stakeholders (i.e. non-profit organisations (NPO) and whale-watchers). However, no observation network has been coordinated and no standards exist for cetacean presence data collection and management. In recent years, several whale watchers and NPOs regularly collected cetacean observation data around the Guadeloupe Archipelago. Our objective was to gather datasets from three Guadeloupean whale watchers, two NPOs and the Agoa Sanctuary, that agreed to share their data. These heterogeneous data went through a careful process of curation and standardisation in order to create a new extended database, using a newly-designed metadata set. This aggregated dataset contains a total of 4,704 records of 21 species collected in the Guadeloupe Archipelago from 2000 to 2019. The database was called Kakila ("who is there?" in Guadeloupean Creole). The Kakila database was developed following the FAIR principles with the ultimate objective of ensuring sustainability. All these data were transferred into the PNDB repository (Pöle National de Données de Biodiversité, Biodiversity French Data Hub, https://www.pndb.fr). In the Agoa Sanctuary and surrounding waters, marine mammals have to interact with increasing anthropogenic pressure from growing human activities. In this context, the Kakila database fulfils the need for an organised system to structure marine mammal occurrences collected by multiple local stakeholders with a common objective: contribute to the knowledge and conservation of cetaceans living in the French Antilles waters. Much needed data analysis will enable us to identify high cetacean presence areas, to document the presence of rarer species and to determine areas of possible negative interactions with anthropogenic activities.

Pairing AIS data and underwater topography to assess maritime traffic pressures on cetaceans: Case study in the Guadeloupean waters of the Agoa sanctuary

“…This collaborative effort to protect cetaceans and their critical habitats in the French EEZ was illustrated in 2020 by the creation of the first collaborative and open database. Named "Kakila" ("Who is there" in Creole language), it gathers all cetacean occurrences recorded by NGOs, whale watchers and scientific bodies between 2001 and 2019 around the Guadeloupean waters (Coché et al, 2021). In the present study, we used the spatial extent of Kakila to provide topographic habitat and pressure maps to the Guadeloupean local authorities and managers.…”

“…We illustrated the relevance of the use of topographic habitat features as a proxy for cetacean species distribution in our study area using the Kakila database. The Kakila database comprises a total of 4,704 records of 21 cetacean species collected in the Guadeloupe Archipelago from 2000 to 2019 during daily-boat excursions related to citizen science data acquisition or related to tourism (Coché et al, 2021). We used the 3 most recorded species, which accounted for up to 75% of the observations in Kakila: the pantropical spotted dolphin, Stenella attenuata (723 observations, 30% of all observations); the sperm whale, Physeter microcephalus (622 observations, 26% of all observations), and the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae (457 observations, 19% of all observations), to display the matching rate between the topographic habitat features of the observations with the IUCN topographic habitat preferences.…”

“…The criterion of travel duration was retained in order to restrict the potential interpolation errors of the vessel tracks in cases of low AIS signal quality (transmission and/or reception). To evaluate the pressure shipping exerts on its environment, we calculated 3 metrics with a cell resolution of 500 * 500m in an area corresponding to the spatial extent covered by the Kakila database (Coché et al 2021): (1) intensity (I), ( 2) occupancy (O) and ( 3) speed (S). Intensity (in km.km -2 ) was generated as the total distance covered by ships, i.e.…”

“…Located in the Wider Caribbean regions and characterized by a complex underwater topography that contributes to its high marine biodiversity, the area was declared a sanctuary for marine mammals in 2010, in agreement with the Guadeloupean authorities and the French government in order to reinforce the conservation of ca. 25 species of cetaceans that inhabit it (Ward and Carlson, 2001;Coché et al 2021). The area has been shown to be already highly impacted by human activities (Halpern et al, 2008) and is in particular under pressure from an intense maritime traffic Foulquier et al, in prep).…”

“…However, efforts to evaluate the potential impacts of maritime traffic on cetaceans and design measures to mitigate them are hampered by the lack of relevant data in a region where governance and protection of biodiversity are complex (Fanning et al, 2021). Nevertheless, the first comprehensive, collaborative and open database for cetacean occurrences in Agoa, named 'Kakila', was initiated in 2021 and holds promises to support cetacean conservation (Coché et al, 2021).…”