Traditional Ecological Knowledge on Acoustic Disturbance - Research Project Partnering with Communities on the North Slope, Alaska
Authors: Weissenberger Jürgen , Dushane Jen , Vos Dan , Ede Ella 
Published: March 2016

Underwater noise from Exploration and Production industry (E&P) has the potential to impact marine organisms in the ocean by inducing behavioral reactions. Even if effects on the population of marine mammals might be negligible, an impact of the ability of local communities to hunt for marine mammals has the potential to effect traditional ways of life. The aim of this study was to gather local information on behavioral reactions of marine mammals to be utilized for risk assessment of E&P activities.

Behavioral reactions of marine mammals to sound disturbance (such as those from EP activities) are complex and are only partially studied and understood through western science methodology. Through thousands of years of subsistence hunting of marine mammals, Native Alaskans have developed extensive local and traditional knowledge (LTK) of marine mammal behavior in a variety of contexts. As there is no known written body of LTK on behavioral reactions of marine mammals to sound, we partnered with the Native governments of three villages on the Chukchi Sea coast, to document this knowledge, utilizing semi-directed interviews, and community advisors.

Seventy interviews were conducted, recorded with video, audio recording or written notes and statements were systematically analyzed using transcripts. Reports were quality checked by community advisors, which were individuals from these communities who had been selected by the tribal government. Video documentation form the interviews where compiled and given back to the respective community to be used for their purposes and to archive. Behavioral reactions to sound stimuli were grouped for species, type of reaction, distance and duration of direction and sound properties that triggered the reaction. Avoidance behavioral response included diving, changing direction, increasing swimming speed, leaving the ice, hiding under the ice, surfacing less or more frequently, attacking the source of the sound and attraction behaviors such as swimming or surfacing closer to the sound. Sound types that were observed to be especially disturbing to some marine mammals were abrupt, staccato sounds or otherwise transient sounds such as knocking or banging noises. Qualitative information from LTK was used to create a set of rules for E&P activities. A more quantitative analysis was done by feeding the LTK learnings into a behavioral model simulating the movement of marine mammals based on habitat characteristics called Agent Based Modelling (ABM) (Nestler et al 2005).

One of the primary goals of this research was to begin the process of understanding the experiences of Native Alaskans and other local knowledge holders regarding how marine mammals have responded to sound and other stimulus. The first step towards this goal was to listen to and document these experiences. This has been successfully achieved and first steps of including this knowledge in modeling tools have been done allowing for a place specific risk assessment.