Occurrence and distribution of marine wildlife in the Bremer Bay region, Western Australia, Australia (2017) ...

• Main Author: Bouchet, Phil
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: CSIRO National Collections and Marine Infrastructure (NCMI) Information and Data Centre (IDC) 2023
• Subjects: Occurrence; Observation; Killer Whale; Killer whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.15468/q0ck4n; https://www.gbif.org/dataset/bdb7dba3-b0e6-4490-8fb5-4be67cda2488

Cetaceans are some of the most iconic animals on the planet, yet few of the 45 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises known to occur in Australian waters have been extensively studied to date. Historical commercial whaling records and recent modelling studies suggest that the submarine canyons within and around the Bremer Marine Park provide favourable habitats for a number of cetaceans, including sperm, beaked, and killer whales. The latter have been reported to concentrate in unprecedented numbers in the Bremer Sub-Basin over the austral summer months, forming what is likely the largest seasonal aggregation of the species in the Southern Hemisphere. However, little data on the animals’ ecology, population abundance, or movements currently exist, and while the majority of killer whale encounters have occurred around the heads of the Knob and Henry Canyons to date, it remains unclear whether this area represents a discrete and unique hotspot or whether the Bremer Marine Park may support additional ...