title: Marine mammals and debris in coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada.
abstract: Entanglement in and ingestion of synthetic marine debris is increasingly recognized worldwide as an important stressor for marine wildlife, including marine mammals. Studying its impact on wildlife populations is complicated by the inherently cryptic nature of the problem. The coastal waters of British Columbia (BC), Canada provide important habitat for marine mammal species, many of which have unfavorable conservation status in the US and Canada. As a priority-setting exercise, we used data from systematic line-transect surveys and spatial modeling methods to map at-sea distribution of debris and 11 marine mammal species in BC waters, and to identify areas of overlap. We estimated abundance of 36,000 (CIs: 23,000-56,600) pieces of marine debris in the region. Areas of overlap were often far removed from urban centers, suggesting that the extent of marine mammal-debris interactions would be underestimated from opportunistic sightings and stranding records, and that high-overlap areas should be prioritized by stranding response networks.
authors.affiliation: Marine Mammal Research Unit, University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Room 247, AERL, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ashe
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: O'Hara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001955:British Columbia; D010872:Caniformia; D002591:Cetacea; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products; D014873:Water Pollutants