Collisions with and disturbance from watercraft represent significant threats to endangered North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Although several studies have investigated whale cooccurrence with commercial vessels, none has considered recreational vessels. We estimated an index between relative encounter risk of North Atlantic right whales and recreational vessel traffic in the southeastern USA calving grounds. Sightings of recreational vessels and right whales were recorded during aerial surveys in 2009–2014. We use generalized additive models to estimate relative occurrence of recreational vessels in the study area. We used estimates of relative North Atlantic right whale occurrence from Gowan and Ortega-Ortiz (2014). Results suggest that areas with elevated relative encounter risk were concentrated near navigable inlets. Additionally, temporal variability in these probabilities was influenced more by the spatial migratory patterns of North Atlantic right whales than by the distribution of recreational vessels. Our results can be used to inform the conservation of the North Atlantic right whales by identifying and mitigating areas with high risk of recreational vessel disturbance and collisions.

中文翻译：

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在美国东南部，北大西洋右鲸与游船交通相遇的风险

与船只的碰撞和干扰对濒临灭绝的北大西洋右鲸（Eubalaena glacialis）构成了重大威胁。尽管有几项研究调查了鲸鱼与商船的共生情况，但没有人考虑休闲船。我们估计了北大西洋右鲸的相对遭遇风险与美国东南部产犊场的游船交通之间的指数。在2009-2014年的航测期间，目击到了游船和右鲸的踪影。我们使用广义加性模型来估计研究区域内游船的相对发生率。我们使用了来自Gowan和Ortega-Ortiz（2014）的相对北大西洋右鲸发生的估计。结果表明，相对遭遇风险较高的区域集中在通航入口附近。此外，这些概率的时间变化受北大西洋右鲸的空间迁徙方式的影响大于受游船分布的影响。我们的研究结果可用于识别和缓解娱乐船只受到干扰和碰撞的高风险区域，从而为北大​​西洋右鲸的保护提供信息。