Assessing recreational boat usage and compliance with marine park regulations in Anse de Saint-Étienne (Saguenay Fjord, Québec): Implications for beluga conservation
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The Saguenay Fjord, a crucial habitat for the St. Lawrence beluga whale population, is a popular area for recreational boating. However, recreational boat activities are poorly documented, as these boats are not required to have on-board systems providing information on their movements. The aim of this study is to describe how a portion of the Saguenay Fjord is used by recreational boats and beluga whales, as well as their potential interactions, and to assess whether the Marine Park regulations regarding vessel transit speed and approach distance are respected. Daylight observations and theodolite surveys were conducted during the summers of 2021 and 2022 in an 8 km² area between two key beluga sites: the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord and Ste. Marguerite Bay. These observations allowed us to gather information on the area's use by recreational boats, beluga whales, and their interactions. Recreational boats were present for more than half of the observation time on average. Across all observation days, co-occurrences (distance < 400 m) between recreational boats and beluga whales were recorded on 45.45 % of days. Some recreational boats violated regulations concerning speed limits and the minimum mandatory distance from beluga whales. Recreational boating, whether with its engine on or off, can disrupt essential behaviors in marine mammals through both emitted noise and the mere physical presence of vessels. Adjusting monitoring and enforcement strategies could help address these challenges and enhance protection for the endangered beluga population. • Anse de Saint-Étienne is a key transit zone for belugas heading to Ste. Marguerite Bay. • Anse de Saint-Étienne heavily used by recreational boats, with over 50 % observation time. • Recreational boats sometimes violate speed and distance regulations near belugas. • Monitoring recreational boats with a theodolite to track potential regulation violations.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".