Shipping alters the movement and behavior of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida), a keystone fish in Arctic marine ecosystems

Abstract

Anthropogenic noise associated with shipping has emerged as a major disruptor of aquatic animal behavior worldwide. The Arctic marine realm has historically experienced little noise‐generating human activity; however, the continual loss of sea ice has facilitated a dramatic increase in shipping activity. Here, we use a combination of acoustic telemetry and modeling of ship noise to examine the temporospatial habitat use of key Arctic forage fish, Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) in the presence and absence of vessels in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, Canada. The presence and movement of vessels induced a horizontal shift in the home ranges of Arctic cod with low core overlap when compared to periods without vessel activity. Home range displacement occurred near the vessel. Individuals also altered their swimming behaviors in response to vessel presence with searching decreasing and travelling increasing in proportion. Results indicate that Arctic cod perceive vessel noise and presence as a threat and react by moving away and decreasing exploratory activities. These changes in fish behavior also coincide with the critical open water feeding period suggesting an interruption in exploitation of important and seasonally abundant food resources, and carry broader implications for dependent seabirds and marine mammals, and indirectly for all Arctic indigenous peoples’ subsistence and long‐term cultural traditions. Our study implies that strategic management is required for aquatic acoustic disturbance as an environmental stressor in the Arctic marine ecosystem, and highlights ecologically and socially important impacts that require timely conservation action.

Light-level geolocators reveal spatial variations in interactions between northern fulmars and fisheries

“…Fishing activities affect the ecology of many marine species (Humphries & Huettmann 2014, Diaz Pauli & Sih 2017, including both target-fish populations (Ivanova et al 2020) and their predators, such as seabirds (Cianchetti-Benedetti et al 2018). Seabird− fishery interactions can affect seabirds through different degrees of reliance on fisheries in their foraging strategies (Bearhop et al 2001), distribution (Bartumeus et al 2010) and population dynamics (Oro et al 2004).…”

Cod movement ecology in a warming world: Circumpolar arctic gadids

“…With the growth of networks, whereby data are shared among researchers (Hussey et al., 2015), understanding animal movement in the frontier environment of the Arctic is finally possible to address questions at the scales required (e.g. Hussey et al., 2017; Ivanova et al., 2020; Kessel et al., 2017). Establishing multi‐regional collaborative networks across the Arctic and ensuring derived data is accessible will be a key step towards addressing regional knowledge gaps identified here (Figure 4, Table S2) and directly informing aquatic governance and policy.…”

“…It is generally projected that increasing temperatures, combined with the influx of competitor and predatory sub-Arctic fishes and anthropogenic activity (e.g. pollutants from shipping and industry; Jonsson et al, 2010;fishing practices;Christiansen & George, 1995; shipping noise; Ivanova et al, 2020), will ultimately drive both A. glacialis and B. saida to move and remain for longer at higher latitudes (Astthorsson, 2015;Leo et al, 2017;Perry et al, 2005;Thorsteinson & Love, 2016) (Marsh & Mueter, 2020) specifically in relation to sea-ice concentration (Ocean Ecosystem Model: Hayashida et al, 2019;Steiner et al, 2019). Recently remodelled B. saida embryonic thermal tolerance under ocean acidification (Dahlke et al, 2018), acoustic survey abundance estimates in relation to sea ice and temperature change (Huntington et al, 2020), and backtracked biophysical models of B. saida larval recruitment in the Barents Sea show a northward retreat has begun with the potential loss of critical spawning hotspots (Huserbråten et al, 2019).…”

“…It is generally projected that increasing temperatures, combined with the influx of competitor and predatory sub‐Arctic fishes and anthropogenic activity (e.g. pollutants from shipping and industry; Jonsson et al., 2010; fishing practices; Christiansen & George, 1995; shipping noise; Ivanova et al., 2020), will ultimately drive both A. glacialis and B. saida to move and remain for longer at higher latitudes (Astthorsson, 2015; Leo et al., 2017; Perry et al., 2005; Thorsteinson & Love, 2016). Recent models for the United States and Canadian Arctic under high emission climate change scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 8.5, 2001–2010 to 2090–2100) project a shifting distribution of B. saida towards higher latitudes based on oceanographic parameters, including temperature and ocean acidification (Steiner et al., 2019), habitat and environmental suitability (Dynamic Bioclimatic Envelope Model (DBEM): Frainer et al., 2017) and changes in prey, predation (Ecopath: Falkenberg et al, In AMAP, 2018) and competition (Marsh & Mueter, 2020) specifically in relation to sea‐ice concentration (Ocean Ecosystem Model: Hayashida et al., 2019; Steiner et al., 2019).…”

“…Understudied processes in the Arctic, such as ocean acidification, coastal erosion, increasing extractive activities and shipping activity are also tightly woven with climate change and are a rapidly unfolding concern for the movement ecology and survival of marine species (AMAP, 2018). For example, a recent study found that higher noise from ship traffic restricted B. saida home range during the crucial open water feeding period, but further research is required to verify if fish move deeper in response to ship presence (Ivanova et al., 2020). Ocean acidification and deoxygenation are projected to increase abundance of gelatinous organisms (i.e.…”