Geographic stratification region boundaries as displayed in Figure 1 from Bellwethers of change: population modelling of North Pacific humpback whales from 2002 through 2021 reveals shift from recovery to climate response ...

• Main Authors: Cheeseman, Ted, Barlow, Jay, Acebes, Jo Marie, Audley, Katherina, Bejder, Lars, Birdsall, Caitlin, Bracamontes, Olga, Bradford, Amanda, Byington, Josie, Calambokidis, John, Cartwright, Rachel, Cedarleaf, Jen, Chavez, Andrea, Currie, Jens, De Castro, Rouenne Camille, De Weerdt, Joëlle, Doe, Nicole, Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas, Dracott, Karina, Filatova, Olga, Finn, Rachel, Flynn, Kiirsten, Ford, John, Frisch-Jordán, Astrid, Gabriele, Chris, Goodwin, Beth, Hayslip, Craig, Hildering, Jackie, Hill, Marie, Jacobsen, Jeff, Jiménez-López, M. Esther, Jones, Meagan, Nozomi, Kobayashi, Lammers, Marc, Lyman, Edward, Malleson, Mark, Mamaev, Evgeny, Martínez Loustalot, Pamela, Masterman, Annie, Matkin, Craig O., McMillan, Christie, Jeff, Moore, Moran, John, Neilson, Janet L., Newell, Hayley, Okabe, Haruna, Marilia, Olio, Ortega Ortiz, Christian, Pack, Adam, Palacios, Daniel
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Royal Society 2024
• Subjects: Ecology not elsewhere classified; Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified; Pacific; Humpback Whale
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25224063.v1; https://rs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Geographic_stratification_region_boundaries_as_displayed_in_Figure_1_from_Bellwethers_of_change_population_modelling_of_North_Pacific_humpback_whales_from_2002_through_2021_reveals_shift_from_recovery_to_climate_response/25224063/1

For the 40 years after the end of commercial whaling in 1976, humpback whale populations in the North Pacific Ocean exhibited a prolonged period of recovery. Using mark–recapture methods on the largest individual photo-identification dataset ever assembled for a cetacean, we estimated annual ocean-basin-wide abundance for the species from 2002 through 2021. Trends in annual estimates describe strong post-whaling era population recovery from 16 875 (± 5955) in 2002 to a peak abundance estimate of 33 488 (± 4455) in 2012. An apparent 20% decline from 2012 to 2021, 33 488 (± 4455) to 26 662 (± 4192), suggests the population abruptly reached carrying capacity due to loss of prey resources. This was particularly evident for humpback whales wintering in Hawaiʻi, where, by 2021, estimated abundance had declined by 34% from a peak in 2013, down to abundance levels previously seen in 2006, and contrasted to an absence of decline in Mainland Mexico breeding humpbacks. The strongest marine heatwave recorded globally to ...