Vulnerability of Arctic marine mammals to vessel traffic in the increasingly ice-free Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route.

ABSTRACT: The fabled Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route that were once the quests of early Western explorers are now increasingly sea ice-free, with routine vessel transits expected by midcentury. The potential impacts of this novel vessel traffic on endemic Arctic marine mammal (AMM) species are unknown despite their critical social and ecological roles in the ecosystem and widely recognized susceptibility to ice loss. We developed a vulnerability assessment of 80 subpopulations of seven AMM species to vessel traffic during the ice-free season. Vulnerability scores were based on the combined influence of spatially explicit exposure to the sea routes and a suite of sensitivity variables. More than half of AMM subpopulations (42/80) are exposed to open-water vessel transits in the Arctic sea ro

SUBMITTER: Hauser DDW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6055159 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature