Research
My research mainly focuses on investigating the impacts and effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors to marine mammals (particularly whales, dolphins, porpoise and seals). My ethos is to undertake research that utilises and maximises the potential of data collected using non-invasive techniques (i.e. non-disturbing to the study animals, e.g. data collected during land-based watching, or via responsible aerial imagery). I use a variety of different techniques and approaches (for example, mapping, video analysis, systematic review, knowledge sharing) to improve and broaden our collective understanding, with the aim of ultimately ensuring our glorious marine species and spaces are not compromised by the Anthropocene (i.e. the human era).
Maritime Research
Vessel activity around coastal Scotland
The Scottish Vessel Project
Realising the gaps in vessel activity data around coastal Scotland, I worked alongside Whale and Dolphin Conservation 'Shorewatch' to set up 'The Scottish Vessel Project'. Running since 2021, the project is a collaborative community project, with the aim of working together to help address the data gap. We work alongside a wonderful network of collaborators, and use a variety of approaches to capture marine vessel data, including collecting AIS (large vessel) data, collecting time-lapse camera imagery, and recording land-and vessel- based sightings information. This is beginning to give us a better understanding of the presence, distribution and type of vessels there are around coastal Scotland. We are also exploring how vessel activity changes over the course of a year, and which vessel types are interacting with marine mammals most frequently. In 2024, I will analyse the data as part of my PhD at Heriot-Watt University, with the data also contributing to a number of other student projects. To read more about the project, check out the website here.
Human Activity in Marine Protected Areas
In collaboration with the fantastic WDC Shorewatch, the Isle of Arran Community of Arran Seabed Trust and Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, we are working together to understand vessel activity within the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including the Sea of the Hebrides MPA and the Lamlash Bay No Take Zone. This part of the Scottish Vessel Project research has been funded by Sea-Changers and the NERC SUPER-DTP Research Experience Placement.
How does the Firth of Forth sound?
I'm working in collaboration with my supervisor, Dr Lauren McWhinnie, Dr Matt Pine (Ocean Acoustics) and FleetMon (now K-PLER) to model the underwater noise soundscape of the Firth of Forth - we are interested in how noise changed before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monitoring vessel activity from above
I am interested in exploring a variety of approaches to quantify vessel (especially non-AIS) activity, and am currently beginning projects which will explore the use of aerial survey or satellite imagery to understand anthropogenic activity in our marine regions. The first aspect of this work is a collaborative project between Heriot-Watt University, Green Rebel and University College Cork. We will analyse aerial survey images of offshore regions in Irish waters, with the aim to quantify AIS and non-AIS vessel activity and to understand the spatial overlap with marine megafauna.
Gallego et al. (2018). MDPI.
Maritime development in the Arctic
I am part of the Scottish Arctic Network, and actively work on a variety of research projects exploring anthropogenic impacts on the Arctic.
ePIcenter H2020
The ePIcenter project explores how AI, digitalisation, automation and innovative technology can streamline freight transportation. I'm working under the 'Arctic Demonstrator' work package, led by Dr Lauren McWhinnie. We are working with the shipping industry to share marine mammal data and knowledge to ensure automated vessel route mappers take important marine mammal areas into consideration. You can see a poster about this research here.
As part of this work, we conducted a systematic map to explore how endemic Arctic whales (bowheads, narwhals and belugas) may be impacted by increases in Arctic vessel traffic (Hague & McWhinnie, 2024). We also explored vessel strike risk to marine mammals in the Arctic, investigating how using different strike risk methods and data analysis approaches may give rise to different strike risk predictions (Hague et al., 2024).
Port Infrastructure for Arctic Shipping
Due to human-induced climate change, Arctic sea ice is melting, thus making the Arctic accessible to vessels for longer periods of the year. It is therefore becoming an increasingly more attractive potential shipping route for some countries and companies. Our research group are interested in being pro-active and are working on projects to explore how we can ensure any increase in Arctic vessel activity does not result in the environment and wildlife being compromised, and that any changes are in collaboration and of benefit to the Arctic communities affected.
In 2022, we led a workshop, funded by the Scottish Government 'Arctic Connections Fund' and supported by MASTS, in collaboration with the WWF Arctic Programme. We gathered a variety of voices from academia, Arctic communities, the shipping and port industry and environmental consultancy to discuss key considerations for the sustainable development of Arctic Ports. For further information, see the workshop report, and the open access publication, available in The Polar Journal.
In 2023, we extended this research and interviewed >20 maritime operators, in collaboration with envirommental certification scheme Green Marine, to understand the challenges the maritime industry must overcome to transition to green energy in a just and environmentally responsible way.
Developing an AIS network
I am delighted to be leading a collaboration with FleetMon (now K-PLER), to set up an AIS network to collect vessel data across Scotland (and more recently, northern Ireland!). The AIS data is directly streamed to K-PLER and Marine Traffic, and can be accessed by submitting a data request via their website. You can read more about the collaboration here.
As a by-product of building this network, I have had the opportunity to meet and visit a number of fantastic locations, and develop friendships and connections with a number of fantastic people and businesses - all now contributing to marine conservation research! I warmly thank all the partners working together on this, and look forward to the coming years as we begin to explore the data in more detail.
Marine Mammal Research
Cumulative Impacts to Marine Mammals
Our oceans are increasingly busy places. There's fishing, shipping, recreational boating, paddleboarding and kayaking, renewable energy development, oil and gas exploration, decommissioning, fish farming, mussel farming, port and harbour development... the list goes on. For the animals that call the ocean their home this means they're likely to experience a multitude of activities (and their associated impacts) at the same time, or in a short time period. Experiencing multiple potential stressors at the same time or one after another, for short or long periods, has the potential to result in cumulative impacts. As a scientist passionate about the welfare of our marine mammals and wider oceans, my research seeks to ensure that the anthropogenic (human-caused) development does not affect our marine life. And, if it does, to identify where and how this occurs, so we can take action to prevent or reduce it.
To do this, I am utilising a multitude of approaches as part of my PhD, based at Heriot-Watt University and primarily supervised by Dr Lauren McWhinnie.
How do maritime industries currently consider their potential cumulative effects to marine mammals?
This was the main focus of Chapter 1 of my PhD, which is now published and available in Frontiers in Marine Science. I led an interdisciplinary team from academia, government and non-governmental organisations to review almost 100 different cumulative effects assessments. These are the legally required documents that industries (such as offshore wind, oil and gas, aquaculture) must produce to assess the potential of the project or structure(s) that they'd like to build to have cumulative impacts on marine wildlife. Their predictions of potential impact can help determine the likelihood of their project being consented to be built. After reviewing these documents, we found that industries do their assessments very differently, with some scoring really well (according to our review) and others scoring consistently low scores, and showing no signs of improvement. What does this mean? It may mean some industries are better at predicting, and then protecting marine mammals from, their potential cumulative effects. We published this research along with recommendations for policy-makers, managers and industries to utilise in order to standardise practice across industries, and to ultimately ensure developments don't compromise conservation objectives for marine mammals.
Collaboration: Carol Sparling (Sea Mammal Research Unit), Ceri Morris (Natural Resources Wales), Duncan Vaughan (Natural England), Rebecca Walker ((prev.) Natural England), Ross Culloch (Queen's University Belfast), and Alastair Lyndon, Teresa Fernandes and Lauren McWhinnie (all Heriot-Watt University). Big thanks to Natural England for funding the open access publication of this research.
Andersen et al. (2017). NIVA Denmark Water Research
Mapping human activities that may result in cumulative effects
Maps provide a fantastic tool to visualise human activities in our ocean spaces. This can allow us to get a better handle on where anthropogenic activities are particularly dense, and/or, where activities are particularly frequent. This may then highlight areas, or times of year, where there is a heightened or reduced potential for cumulative effects. This type of knowledge can be invaluable to managers hoping to better protect our marine spaces.
Part of my PhD project will include mapping human activities in UK waters. This will be done through the lens of marine mammal species found in our seas, to identify areas that may pose a particular risk to certain species or life history stage. Likewise, identification of areas with low densities of human activity, coupled with high species diversity or high importance to marine mammals, could help identify areas around the UK that could be considered for further protection.
Marine Mammals in the Anthropocene
How do marine mammals interact with anthropogenic structures in their marine environment?
Given the unprecedented increase in anthropogenic structures within the marine environment over the previous century, it is important to understand how marine species interact with, avoid, or adapt to such structures. It is clear that both marine and terrestrial predator–prey interactions are increasingly occurring in settings that are in some way defined by the Anthropocene (i.e. by humans). In 2022, working with Shetland-based collaborators, we published a fascinating observation of a harbour seal seeking refuge from a group of foraging killer whales by hiding within a mussel farm. This is a really cool example of how two top predators may be incorporating man-made structures into their foraging behaviour. In the paper we discuss the potential implications, including the potential entanglement risk for both species. Make sure to check out the impressive aerial drone imagery of the observation here.
Collaboration: Nick McCaffrey (Southspear Media and Surveys Ltd), Rachel Shucksmith (UHI Shetland) and Lauren McWhinnie (Heriot-Watt University).
Credit (clockwise): Shetland Dive Club; Zaharieva et al 2021; Laborde et al 2012; own image taken at West Weymss seal haul out site
What is the current state of knowledge and volume of research considering the consequences of anthropogenic activity to marine mammals?
We have been aware that our activities can directly and in-directly affect marine mammals for many years now, with research underway on this topic for more than half a century. To summarise 'what we know' in terms of the impacts of human activities, identify gaps in knowledge, and to map out where and on which species the research takes place, as part of my PhD I am leading a large interdisciplinary team to conduct a 'systematic map' of the literature. This involves collecting all available information on this topic, summarising it into one database and then mapping it out. We are actively working on this and expect it to be publicly available as a research paper, database and interactive map soon. Watch this space!
Collaboration: Rachael Sinclair (SMRU Consulting), Jo Kershaw and Davina Derous (University of Aberdeen), Carol Sparling (Sea Mammal Research Unit), Ross Culloch (APEM), Nick Baker-Horne (Queen's University Belfast) and Sarah Kelly, Marija Sciberras, Teresa Fernandes and Lauren McWhinnie (all Heriot-Watt University).
Marine Mammal Behaviour and Ecology
Prior to my PhD, I worked at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, based within the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St Andrews. There I accumulated a vast array of marine mammal related field-work experience through working on a variety of topics. My main role was as a data processer, and field assistant and then field lead of the bottlenose dolphin photo-ID project, a long- term monitoring project running in collaboration with the Cromarty Lighthouse Field Station (University of Aberdeen). I also spent time working on the Harbour Seal Decline Project, which uses a multi-faceted approach to explore potential reasons for the regional decline of some harbour seal populations around Scotland. I conducted fieldwork in Kintyre and Orkney, collecting data to better understand population dynamics in those regions. I was part of the field team that published two papers, one which helped streamline the data analysis process (Langley et al., 2021) and the second explored the allosuckling behaviour we observed in some the monitored populations (Arso Civil et al., 2021). Continuing on the theme of harbour seal ecology, I recently published a short note describing an interaction between a harbour seal and a Eurasian otter (Hague and McCaffrey, 2022). In the note we discuss potential reasons why this interaction might occur - if you'd like to decide for yourself, you can watch the video footage here.
I have also volunteered for a number of other research projects, including ECOPredS and Orcalab. These experiences helped me hone my research skills, and refine the questions and approaches that particularly excited me when it comes to marine mammal research.
Surprisingly, despite a vast array of research projects and data collection methods, we still know relatively little about many of our marine mammal populations around the UK. For example, for some species we have very little data about their distribution, abundance or population status. To help collate the 'state of knowledge' along with a repository of available marine mammal data, I was part of the team at SMRU Consulting that summarised this into the 'regional baselines of marine mammal knowledge in Scottish waters', a project funded by Marine Scotland. Recently I also led a team that published the first ever footage of a long-finned pilot whale expelling placental material (Hague et al., 2022), indicating that it had likely given birth in the last 12 hours. This footage was taken off of Shetland, UK, indicating these waters potentially might be an important area for this species. You can see the footage here. I still find it fascinating and super exciting that we still know so little about so many species that inhabit our seas - there is so much still yet to learn.
Research Acknowledgements
Collaborators
Funding
I currently have a 36-month James Watt PhD scholarship supporting my stipend and fees, administered via Heriot-Watt University. I would also like to warmly acknowledge the below organisations for providing funding that has supported me either directly via my PhD research, via additional projects or via the provision of funding for open-access article publication fees.
Travel Grants
I would also like to thank the below funders and organisations whom I have received travel and networking grants from to share my research with a variety of national and international audiences.
