Dear MARMAM community,

On behalf of my co-authors and I, we are excited to share our recently 
published paper in Ocean & Coastal Management highlighting the need to consider 
recreational vessels in risk assessments of vessel strikes to humpback whales.

Abstract
Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) data have been beneficial in 
understanding spatio-temporal patterns in marine traffic to inform assessments 
of vessel-strike risk to large whales. However, AIS does not represent all 
vessel classes, particularly recreational vessels that are not legally required 
to use AIS. Growing evidence suggests that recreational vessels do collide with 
large whales, and so risk assessments relying on AIS data can underestimate the 
threat and misguide conservation efforts. To address this, we conducted surveys 
of recreational vessel and humpback whale sightings to build density surface 
models and estimate relative vessel-strike risk by spatial co-occurrence in an 
urbanized embayment, Moreton Bay, Australia. We demonstrate that 93% of 
recreational vessels sighted in Moreton Bay did not use AIS and that vessel 
strike risk varies spatially according to vessel class (recreational vs. 
commercial). These results highlight the importance of including recreational 
vessels into vessel strike risk assessments to provide a more holistic view of 
vessel strike.

Mayaud, R., Peel, D., Smith, J.N., Wilson, C., Bengtson Nash, S., (2024). The 
need to consider recreational vessels in risk assessments of vessel strikes to 
humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Ocean and Coastal Management, 259, 
107419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2024.107419.

You can find the publication available open access through the following link:  
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569124004046
[https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0964569124X00101-cov150h.gif]<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569124004046>
The need to consider recreational vessels in risk assessments of vessel strikes 
to humpback whales (Megaptera 
novaeangliae)<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569124004046>
Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) data have been beneficial in 
understanding spatio-temporal patterns in marine traffic to inform assessments 
of …
www.sciencedirect.com

Feel free to email me with any questions at: r.may...@griffith.edu.au

All the best,
Raphael
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