Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui and Tory Channel / Kura Te Au (HS51) Hydrographic Survey Marine Mammal Observations

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA) was contracted in October 2016 by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to undertake hydrographic surveying services for the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui and Tory Channel / Kura Te Au Hydrographic Survey (HS51). This survey comprises both hydrographic (LINZ) and habitat mapping (Marlborough District Council (MDC)), requirements which are met by a National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research Limited (NIWA) led partnership with Discovery Marine Limited (DML). These Marine Mammal Observations form part of the deliverables required for LINZ project HYD-2016/17-01 (HS51) Contract No 20058 for the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui and Tory Channel / Kura Te Au Hydrographic Survey. This project is referred to as HS51. The Observations are submitted in accordance with the HS51 Services Agreement Contract and Marine Mammal Liaison Group (MMLG) Specifications. Marine mammals, in particular dolphins are a regular occurrence in the Marlborough Sounds. The species are important both nationally and internationally. There are eight marine mammal species known to frequent the Sounds (Davidson et al., 2011). Two of these are classified as nationally endangered (Hectors and Bottlenose) and one is considered nationally critical (Killer whale or Orca). The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and Discovery Marine Limited (DML) were contracted to map the seabed in the Marlborough Sounds (Queen Charlotte Sound/Tōtaranui and Tory Channel/Kura Te Au) using multibeam sounders. The frequency of the sound emitted by a multibeam echo sounder is outside the hearing range of marine mammals in the Sounds, however as a precaution, NIWA ensured best practice for minimising survey activities in the immediate proximity of marine mammals, including logging all sightings while on multibeam effort. Mulitbeam operators and surveyors logged marine mammal sightings. Blue Planet Marine (BPM) was contracted prior to the survey to provide a review of the potential efforts of a multibeam survey of Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel and make suggestions as to best practice to minimise disturbance. Overall they concluded the survey was in the category of ‘minimal disturbance’ hence not requiring a dedicated MMO onboard (Blue Planet Marine, 2016). This report also gave some recommendations, including survey teams to log sightings, that NIWA adopted in the survey plan.

Citation: Neil H, Mackay K, Davey N (2017). Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui and Tory Channel / Kura Te Au (HS51) Hydrographic Survey Marine Mammal Observations. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Sampling_event Dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/s7ctpf accessed via GBIF.org on 2018-01-15.

Published: May 27, 2021 at 22:42

URL: https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=hs51marinemammalobs