Do whale-watching vessels affect the distribution of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina?: Using the COVID-19 lockdown as a case study

Abstract

Understanding how human activities impact wildlife is fundamental for the sustainable management of anynature-based tourism activity (Christiansen & Lusseau, 2014). In this sense, the global coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic lockdown during 2020 presented an exceptional opportunity to perform a natural experiment.As other countries around the world, Argentina established measures for social distancing and population quarantine,closing borders (international, interprovincial, and between cities) with the concomitant reduction of numerous economicand societal activities. These measures extended from March 2020 to December 2020. During this period,authorities enforced the closure of all protected areas throughout the territory and the suspension of all tourist activities,including Península Valdés and the sightings of marine wildlife. This caused a total shutdown of WW activities,which usually take place annually from June to late November. Consequently, during the 2020 whale season, vesseltraffic within the WW area was minimal or nonexistent. Faced with an unprecedented scenario, investigatingwhale distribution within the WW area in relation to reduced vessel traffic would be of utmost importance formanagement and conservation purposes.In this work, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the reduction in vessel traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemiclockdown on the distribution of SRW in the WW area off Puerto Pirámides (Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina).For this, information on whale distribution for three periods (previous, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic lockdown)was compared to identify, contrast, and evaluate the different scenarios and/or changes that may have takenplace.