Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific
Abstract Fisheries records provide some of the only information on pre‐fishing distribution and abundance for species that were depleted before the advent of modern scientific investigations. This paper interprets records of the early history of whaling for North Pacific right whales ( Eubalaena pac...
Published in: | Fish and Fisheries |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2008
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x |
id |
crwiley:10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x 2024-06-02T08:11:31+00:00 Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific Josephson, Elizabeth Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Fish and Fisheries volume 9, issue 2, page 155-168 ISSN 1467-2960 1467-2979 journal-article 2008 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x 2024-05-03T11:09:35Z Abstract Fisheries records provide some of the only information on pre‐fishing distribution and abundance for species that were depleted before the advent of modern scientific investigations. This paper interprets records of the early history of whaling for North Pacific right whales ( Eubalaena pacifica ). The current population occupies only a fraction of its historical range. Historical distributions of several whale species have been inferred from charts prepared by Matthew Fontaine Maury in the early 1850s and Charles Haskins Townsend in the 1930s based on data from American whalers’ logbooks. In the North Pacific, Maury’s chart has been interpreted to show that right whales occurred continuously across the entire basin. However, we find plotting errors when we compare the North Pacific chart to the corresponding data worksheets prepared for Maury (the ‘Maury Abstracts’) and the chart appears to have misled historians and biologists. Although these charts and those in the North Atlantic are wrong, the Maury Abstracts themselves appear largely consistent with the original whaler logbooks. Our analysis shows that right whales were likely not distributed continuously across the North Pacific, but instead had a pronounced longitudinally bimodal distribution and were encountered infrequently in the central‐northern North Pacific. This work shows how valuable information can be obtained by examining original source material. The American whaling logbooks are extensive and have been largely overlooked in studies of whale populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Wiley Online Library Pacific Fish and Fisheries 9 2 155 168 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Fisheries records provide some of the only information on pre‐fishing distribution and abundance for species that were depleted before the advent of modern scientific investigations. This paper interprets records of the early history of whaling for North Pacific right whales ( Eubalaena pacifica ). The current population occupies only a fraction of its historical range. Historical distributions of several whale species have been inferred from charts prepared by Matthew Fontaine Maury in the early 1850s and Charles Haskins Townsend in the 1930s based on data from American whalers’ logbooks. In the North Pacific, Maury’s chart has been interpreted to show that right whales occurred continuously across the entire basin. However, we find plotting errors when we compare the North Pacific chart to the corresponding data worksheets prepared for Maury (the ‘Maury Abstracts’) and the chart appears to have misled historians and biologists. Although these charts and those in the North Atlantic are wrong, the Maury Abstracts themselves appear largely consistent with the original whaler logbooks. Our analysis shows that right whales were likely not distributed continuously across the North Pacific, but instead had a pronounced longitudinally bimodal distribution and were encountered infrequently in the central‐northern North Pacific. This work shows how valuable information can be obtained by examining original source material. The American whaling logbooks are extensive and have been largely overlooked in studies of whale populations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Josephson, Elizabeth Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R |
spellingShingle |
Josephson, Elizabeth Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
author_facet |
Josephson, Elizabeth Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R |
author_sort |
Josephson, Elizabeth |
title |
Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
title_short |
Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
title_full |
Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
title_fullStr |
Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
title_full_unstemmed |
Historical distribution of right whales in the North Pacific |
title_sort |
historical distribution of right whales in the north pacific |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1467-2979.2008.00275.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Fish and Fisheries volume 9, issue 2, page 155-168 ISSN 1467-2960 1467-2979 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00275.x |
container_title |
Fish and Fisheries |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
155 |
op_container_end_page |
168 |
_version_ |
1800757698679013376 |