STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
Indications are that, at least during the feeding season, a major portion of the sei whale population is centered in northerly waters, perhaps on the Scotian Shelf (Mitchell and Chapman 1977). The southern portion of the species' range during spring and summer includes the northern portions of...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2000
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.294.8779 http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ao2000whse-ns.pdf |
| Summary: | Indications are that, at least during the feeding season, a major portion of the sei whale population is centered in northerly waters, perhaps on the Scotian Shelf (Mitchell and Chapman 1977). The southern portion of the species' range during spring and summer includes the northern portions of the USA Atlantic Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — the Gulf of M aine and Georges Bank. The period of greatest abundance there is in spring, with sightings concentrated along the eastern margin of Georges Bank and into the Northeast Channel area, and along the southwestern edge of Georges Bank in the area of Hydrographer Canyon (CETAP 1982). The sei whale is generally found in the deeper waters characteristic of the continental shelf edge region (Hain et al. 1985). Mitchell (1975) similarly reported that sei whales off No va Scotia were often distributed closer to th e 2,000 m depth contou r than we re fin whales. This general offshore pattern of sei whale distribution is disrupted during episodic incursions into more shallow and inshore waters. The sei whale, like the right whale, is largely planktivorous — feeding primarily on euphausiids and copepo ds. In years of reduced predation on copepods by other predators, and thus greater abundance of this prey source, sei whales are reported in more inshore locations, such as the Great South Channel (in 1987 and 1989) and Stellwagen Bank (in 1986) areas (R.D. Kenney, pers. comm.; Payne et al. 1990). An influx of sei whales into the southern Gulf of Maine occurred in the summer of 1986 (Schilling et al. 1993). Such episodes, often punctuated by years or even decades of absence from an area, have been reported for sei whales from various places worldwide. |
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