ICES 2013: Report of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology (WGMME)
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20th ASCOBANS Advisory Committee Meeting AC20/Doc.4.1.b (P) Warsaw, Poland, 27-29 August 2013 Dist. 25 July 2013 Agenda Item 4.1 Review of New Information on Other Matters Relevant for Small Cetacean Conservation Population Size, Distribution, Structure and Causes of Any Changes Document 4.1.b ICES 2013: Report of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology (WGMME) Action Requested Take note Submitted by United Kingdom NOTE: DELEGATES ARE KINDLY REMINDED TO BRING THEIR OWN COPIES OF DOCUMENTS TO THE MEETING ICES WGMME REPORT 2013 ICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE ICES CM 2013/ACOM:26 Report of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology (WGMME) 4–7 February 2013 Paris, France International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Conseil International pour l’Exploration de la Mer H. C. Andersens Boulevard 44–46 DK-1553 Copenhagen V Denmark Telephone (+45) 33 38 67 00 Telefax (+45) 33 93 42 15 www.ices.dk [email protected] Recommended format for purposes of citation: ICES. 2013. Report of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology (WGMME), 4– 7 February 2013, Paris, France. ICES CM 2013/ACOM:26. 117 pp. For permission to reproduce material from this publication, please apply to the Gen- eral Secretary. The document is a report of an Expert Group under the auspices of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and does not necessarily represent the views of the Council. © 2013 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea ICES WGMME REPORT 2013 | i Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................ 5 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 7 2 Adoption of the agenda ................................................................................................ 8 3 TOR a: Review progress with the report on monitoring strategies for marine mammals with a view to submitting a new resolution to publish it as an ICES CRR ......................................................................................... 10 4 ToR b): Review and report on any new information on population sizes, population/stock structure and management units for marine mammals; specifically, the MUs for harbour porpoises will need to be revisited as indicators for MSFD become better defined. Such units will need to be aligned with the appropriate ICES rectangles to enable the calculation of more accurate bycatch estimates ............................................... 13 4.1 Background.......................................................................................................... 13 4.2 Management units .............................................................................................. 14 4.2.1 Harbour porpoise................................................................................... 15 4.2.2 Common dolphin ................................................................................... 17 4.2.3 Bottlenose dolphin ................................................................................. 17 4.2.4 White-beaked dolphin ........................................................................... 20 4.2.5 White-sided dolphin .............................................................................. 20 4.2.6 Striped dolphin ...................................................................................... 20 4.2.7 Minke whale ........................................................................................... 21 4.2.8 Harbour seal and grey seal ................................................................... 21 4.3 Overarching WGMME recommendation on MUs ......................................... 25 4.4 New survey and abundance information ........................................................ 25 4.4.1 Abundance of harbour porpoise in the German North Sea and southwestern Baltic Sea ................................................................. 25 4.4.2 Abundance of harbour porpoise in Dutch waters ............................. 26 4.4.3 Abundance of harbour porpoise in Belgian waters .......................... 27 4.4.4 Distribution and abundance of harbour porpoise in the Kattegat, Belt Seas and western Baltic ................................................ 28 4.4.5 Distribution of cetaceans in French waters ........................................ 28 4.4.6 Distribution and abundance of cetaceans off northern Spain.......... 36 4.4.7 Distribution and abundance of cetaceans in continental Portuguese waters ................................................................................. 37 4.4.8 Large-scale cetacean surveys in the European Atlantic.................... 38 4.5 Future surveys..................................................................................................... 39 4.6 References ............................................................................................................ 39 5 ToR c: Collaborate with WGBYC to develop bycatch management procedures (based on the SCANS‐II and CODA projects) for assessing ii | ICES WGMME REPORT 2013 bycatch at a European level. This work should include harbour porpoise (SCANS II), short‐beaked common dolphin (CODA) and consideration of additional species for which bycatch estimates have been made or suggested as a potential MSFD indicator. Such species include bottlenose dolphin, striped dolphin, harbour seal and grey seal .................................................................................................................................. 44 5.1 Background to current project .......................................................................... 45 5.2 Conservation objectives ..................................................................................... 45 5.3 Time frame and definition of ‘in the long term’ ............................................. 46 5.4 Management units .............................................................................................. 47 5.5 Recommendation ................................................................................................ 47 5.6 References ............................................................................................................ 48 6 TOR d: Assess the Joint Cetacean Protocol outputs with a view to their contribution to international transboundary reporting requirements (e.g. for Article 17 of the Habitats Directive) and the development of MSFD indicators, targets and appropriate baselines ............................................ 50 7 Tor e: Update on development of database for seals and status of intersessional work, assessing its potential contribution to the development of MSFD indicators, targets and baselines..................................... 52 7.1 Issues .................................................................................................................... 52 7.2 Database structure and update ......................................................................... 53 7.3 Contribution to the development of MSFD indicators, targets and baselines ............................................................................................................... 53 7.4 References ............................................................................................................ 54 8 ToR f: Review and assess monitoring of marine mammals in relation to the development of offshore wind and marine renewable energy ................ 55 8.1 Introduction: what is “Monitoring”? ............................................................... 55 8.2 Recent ‘monitoring’ experience in the development of marine renewables ........................................................................................................... 56 Pre-consent investigations ............................................................................... 58 Post-consent: impact monitoring .................................................................... 58 8.3 Monitoring experience-a summary .................................................................. 59 8.4 Key issues ............................................................................................................ 59 8.4.1 Abundance and distribution ................................................................ 59 8.4.2 Behaviour and site use at different scales ........................................... 61 8.4.3 Noise measurements ............................................................................. 61 8.4.4 Statistical power to detect impacts ...................................................... 62 8.4.5 Strategic monitoring .............................................................................. 63 8.4.6 Consistency ............................................................................................. 65 8.4.7 Data sharing ............................................................................................ 65 8.5 Recommendations .............................................................................................. 66 8.5.1 Top-level recommendation: Integration of monitoring data ........... 66 8.6 References ............................................................................................................ 67 ICES WGMME REPORT 2013 | iii 9 Future work and recommendations ......................................................................... 72 9.1 Future work of the WGMME ...........................................................................