OneNOAA Science Seminar Series <https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/> Please forward to folks (in or out of NOAA) who might be interested; thanks. *Title: Population Consequences of Disturbance by Offshore Oil and Gas Activity for Endangered Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus)* *When: *TOMORROW, Tuesday, November 19, 2018, 12-1pm ET *Where: *Via webinar (see login below), or for NOAA Silver Spring folks, SSMC4, Rm 8150 *Speaker: *Dr. Nick Farmer, Chief, Species Conservation, Protected Resources Division, NOAA Fisheries, Southeast Regional Office. Presenting remotely. *Sponsor: *NOAA's National Ocean Service Science Seminar Series; host is Tracy.Gill@noaa.gov *Webinar Access:* We will be using Adobe Connect for this webinar. To join a session, please go to the following website at the scheduled date and time, and hit button "Enter as Guest", then please add your first & last name: https://noaabroadcast.adobeconnect.com/nosscienceseminars/ Users should use either IE or Edge on Windows or Safari if using a Mac; google chrome often works too. You can test your ability to use Adobe Connect at the following link: https://noaabroadcast.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.h... Contact your help desk if you have any trouble completing this test. Audio will be available thru the computer only; no phone. Questions will be addressed in the chat window. This Webcast will be recorded, archived and made accessible in the near future. *Abstract: *Sperm whale (*Physeter macrocephalus*) populations are still recovering from massive population declines associated with commercial whaling operations. The species continues to face a suite of contemporary threats, including pollution, ship strikes, fisheries interactions, habitat loss and degradation, oil spills, and anthropogenic noise. The sperm whale stock in the northern Gulf of Mexico was exposed to oil from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill and is exposed to high levels of anthropogenic noises generated by geological and geophysical (G&G) surveys for hydrocarbon deposits. Population impacts from oil and gas activities were predicted from models that incorporated two stressors: (i) oil exposure from DWH and (ii) noise from G&G surveys. Oil exposure was projected to reduce survival and reproductive success, causing a mean stock decline of 26% by 2025. Additionally, exposure to underwater noise can adversely impact whale hearing, communication, foraging efficiency, and disturb essential behaviors. Exposures to G&G survey noise were determined by simulating individual movements through three-dimensional sound fields generated by different survey methods. Behavioral disturbance was evaluated as reduced foraging opportunities under four dose-response functions. Bioenergetic models tracked the depletion of reserves in blubber, muscle, and viscera. All simulations suggested significant reductions in relative fitness of reproductive females were a likely consequence of persistent disturbances to foraging behaviors. Under a 160 dB SPL unweighted dose-response function, up to 4.4 ± 0.3% of the stock may reach terminal starvation due to behavioral disturbance associated with future G&G surveys, leading to abortions, calf abandonment, and up to 25% greater stock declines beyond those predicted from DWH oil exposure. Uncertainty in our results emphasizes a need for further controlled exposure experiments to generate behavioral disturbance dose-response curves and detailed evaluation of individual resilience following disturbance events. Given our focus on a limited suite of threats and need for field verification of these modeled impacts, precautionary management application of our results is recommended for this endangered species. *About the Speaker: *Dr. Farmer earned his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami. He is the Chief of Species Conservation in the Protected Resources Division at the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office. His research includes reef fish movement tracking, efficient marine reserve design, acoustic monitoring of fish spawning aggregations, fishery-independent monitoring of reef fish populations, species distribution models for protected species, dynamic stock assessment projection management decision tools, the population consequences of multiple stressors for endangered cetaceans, and satellite tracking of giant manta rays. *Subscribe to the OneNOAA Science Seminar weekly email*: Send an email to OneNOAAscienceseminars-request@list.woc.noaa.gov with the word `subscribe' in the subject or body. See http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/ -- Tracy A. Gill tracy.gill@noaa.gov 240-533-0349 Physical Scientist , NOAA/NOS Science Seminar Coordinator NOAA/NOS National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS <https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/>) Marine Spatial Ecology Division, Biogeography Branch 1305 East-West Hwy, N/SCI-1, # 9208, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3278 *Check out **the OneNOAA Science Seminar Series website <https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/> for the schedule and to **sign up <https://list.woc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/onenoaascienceseminars> for the weekly seminar email.* o o
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