Behaviors of Grey Seals (Halichoerus Grypus) Addressed Towards Human Swimmers During Experimental Open Water Encounters Off Heligoland (German Bight, North Sea)

Q3 Social Sciences

Tourism in Marine Environments Pub Date : 2020-10-14 DOI:10.3727/154427320x15945013137030

M. Scheer

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Risks arising for humans during swim encounters with seals are poorly understood. This study was initiated to examine behaviors of unhabituated grey seals addressed towards humans during experimental, noncommercial seal-swim activities off Heligoland. In total, 26 in-water encounters were conducted. Behavioral classes and the number of seals simultaneously approaching swimmers were time sampled. A set of risky and nonrisky interactive behaviors was continuously sampled. Seals spent approximately the same amount of time interacting with swimmers (53%) as they did ignoring them (47%). Seals displayed higher rates of nonrisky behaviors than risky ones, but risky behaviors occurred during 73% of all seal-swims. Seals remained ≤20 m near swimmers for 51% and ≤1 m for 13% of the time. A mean number of 0.65 and 0.18 seals approached swimmers per minute within a range of ≤20 m and ≤1 m, respectively. Behavioral classes, interactive behaviors, and the number of seals approaching ≤20 m did not vary significantly throughout seal-swims but the number of seals approaching ≤1 m moderately decreased. Due to high rates of risky behaviors, it is recommended to promote public awareness on site and to regulate seal-swims before commercial operations emerge.

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在Heligoland（德国湾，北海）附近的实验性公开水域遭遇中，灰海豹（Halichoerus Grypus）对人类游泳者的行为

人们对人类在与海豹游泳时遇到的风险知之甚少。这项研究是为了检查未孵化的灰海豹在Heligoland附近的实验性非商业性海豹游泳活动中对人类的行为。总共进行了26次水中遭遇战。对同时接近游泳者的海豹的行为类别和数量进行了时间采样。对一组有风险和无风险的互动行为进行了连续采样。海豹与游泳者互动的时间（53%）与忽视游泳者的时间（47%）大致相同。海豹的非危险行为发生率高于危险行为，但危险行为发生在所有海豹游泳中的73%。海豹在游泳者附近停留≤20米的时间占51%，在≤1米的时间里占13%。在≤20米和≤1米的范围内，平均每分钟接近游泳者的海豹数量分别为0.65只和0.18只。在整个海豹游泳过程中，行为类别、互动行为和接近≤20m的海豹数量没有显著变化，但接近≤1m的海豹数量适度减少。由于风险行为的发生率很高，建议在商业运营出现之前，在现场提高公众意识，并对海豹游泳进行监管。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Tourism in Marine Environments Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

2.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Tourism in Marine Environments is an interdisciplinary journal dealing with a variety of management issues in marine settings. It is a scientific journal that draws upon the expertise of academics and practitioners from various disciplines related to the marine environment, including tourism, marine science, geography, social sciences, psychology, environmental studies, economics, marketing, and many more.