AUT LibraryAUT
View Item 
  •   Open Research
  • Faculties
  • Faculty of Culture and Society
  • School of Hospitality and Tourism
  • View Item
  •   Open Research
  • Faculties
  • Faculty of Culture and Society
  • School of Hospitality and Tourism
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Behavioural effects of tourism on oceanic common dolphins, delphinus sp., in New Zealand: the effects of Markov analysis variations and current tour operator compliance with regulations

Meissner, AM; Christiansen, F; Martinez, E; Pawley, MD; Orams, MB; Stockin, KA
Thumbnail
View/Open
article.pdf (532.4Kb)
Permanent link
http://hdl.handle.net/10292/8986
Metadata
Show full metadata
Abstract
Common dolphins, Delphinus sp., are one of the marine mammal species tourism operations in New Zealand focus on. While effects of cetacean-watching activities have previously been examined in coastal regions in New Zealand, this study is the first to investigate effects of commercial tourism and recreational vessels on common dolphins in an open oceanic habitat. Observations from both an independent research vessel and aboard commercial tour vessels operating off the central and east coast Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand were used to assess dolphin behaviour and record the level of compliance by permitted commercial tour operators and private recreational vessels with New Zealand regulations. Dolphin behaviour was assessed using two different approaches to Markov chain analysis in order to examine variation of responses of dolphins to vessels. Results showed that, regardless of the variance in Markov methods, dolphin foraging behaviour was significantly altered by boat interactions. Dolphins spent less time foraging during interactions and took significantly longer to return to foraging once disrupted by vessel presence. This research raises concerns about the potential disruption to feeding, a biologically critical behaviour. This may be particularly important in an open oceanic habitat, where prey resources are typically widely dispersed and unpredictable in abundance. Furthermore, because tourism in this region focuses on common dolphins transiting between adjacent coastal locations, the potential for cumulative effects could exacerbate the local effects demonstrated in this study. While the overall level of compliance by commercial operators was relatively high, non-compliance to the regulations was observed with time restriction, number or speed of vessels interacting with dolphins not being respected. Additionally, prohibited swimming with calves did occur. The effects shown in this study should be carefully considered within conservation management plans, in order to reduce the risk of detrimental effects on common dolphins within the region.
Date
2015
Source
PLoS ONE 10(1): e0116962. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116962
Item Type
Journal Article
Publisher
PLOS
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0116962
Publisher's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116962
Rights Statement
© 2015 Meissner et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Contact Us
  • Admin

Hosted by Tuwhera, an initiative of the Auckland University of Technology Library

 

 

Browse

Open ResearchTitlesAuthorsDateSchool of Hospitality and TourismTitlesAuthorsDate

Alternative metrics

 

Statistics

For this itemFor all Open Research

Share

 
Follow @AUT_SC

Contact Us
  • Admin

Hosted by Tuwhera, an initiative of the Auckland University of Technology Library