In Procurement, TBD

Chief, Alaska Environmental Studies Section

As a member of the North Slope Spill Response Project Team, MMS utilizes the Alaska Clean Seas (ACS) Technical Manual in the unlikely event of a large oil spill in the Beaufort Sea.  In addition, oil companies submit an Oil Prevention and Technical Plan (OPTP) to MMS for Federal approval.  While these plans consider deflection of polar bears and waterfowl, neither the ACS Technical Manual nor the OPTP deal specifically with bowhead whales, an endangered species and a most important species to North Slope subsistence villages.  The study would test methods and develop a step-down protocol for on-scene managers to rapidly mitigate the effects of a large oil spill on bowhead whales.

The overall goal of the study is to develop guidelines for keeping bowhead whales away from large oil spills.  Specific objectives for meeting this goal are to:

1.   Analyze the literature on potential methods (e.g., noise) for herding or deflecting cetaceans away from oil spills or other effects.

2.   Develop a workable field protocol for using tested methods to keep bowhead whales away from a large oil spill.

3.   If necessary and feasible, conduct selected field tests to evaluate the most effective ways to deflect captive cetaceans and/or bowhead whales away from a proscribed area.

Analysis of the literature will consider the potential for use of acoustic disturbance (e.g., seismic arrays, icebreaker cavitations, whale boats, orca noise), visual disturbance (e.g., low-flying aircraft), and physical barriers (e.g., oil booms, stationary nets.  The protocol will have a rapid-deployment quality in the unlikely event of a large oil spill.  The cost of implementing the protocol should be considered, but should not limit important workable options.  The purpose of the protocol is to exclude or deflect migrating whales away from the perimeter of a large oil spill without scattering whales in adverse directions.  Variables to consider that might limit the effectiveness of certain options include ambient ice type and ice concentration, competing disturbances from oil-spill cleanup activities, and uncontrolled vessel and air traffic.

Appropriate permits should be obtained for field testing, if necessary.  Any field testing involving bowhead whales will be carefully coordinated with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission in advance to avoid or minimize the potential for disturbance to the subsistence harvest.

It is important to update and augment the ACS Technical Manual relative to bowhead whales.  A protocol for keeping bowheads away would likely become a key part of any first-line response in the unlikely event of a large oil spill in the Beaufort Sea.  The worst case would be a well-head blowout at Northstar and/or Liberty production facilities.  The protocol would help reduce the potential for any oil-spill-related mortality or sublethal effects (e.g., feeding and reproduction) to this endangered species.  While implementing the protocol might add to the expected disruption of the whale harvest in the year of any large oil spill, it would reduce the likelihood and scope of potential damage relative to perceived tainting of muktuk and other tissues.  In their 2001 Arctic Region Biological Opinion, National Marine Fisheries Service makes a Conservation Recommendation that MMS study “the possible use of air guns as a deterrent for bowhead whales near an oil spill.”

Pending contract award.

April 2004

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