Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022)
Historically, the Seychelles archipelago was an opportunistic whaling ground for fleets en route to and from the Antarctic. Soviet whalers illegally killed 500 blue whales near the Seychelles in the 1960s. Since then, no dedicated research has occurred to understand the ecological importance of this...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0578741a91a14fa4ae682dc17c4c905b 2024-01-14T10:01:53+01:00 Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) KM Stafford G Boussarie M Caputo L Irvine S Laing E Nancy H Pearson JJ Kiszka 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01277 https://doaj.org/article/0578741a91a14fa4ae682dc17c4c905b EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v52/p203-208/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01277 https://doaj.org/article/0578741a91a14fa4ae682dc17c4c905b Endangered Species Research, Vol 52, Pp 203-208 (2023) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01277 2023-12-17T01:46:41Z Historically, the Seychelles archipelago was an opportunistic whaling ground for fleets en route to and from the Antarctic. Soviet whalers illegally killed 500 blue whales near the Seychelles in the 1960s. Since then, no dedicated research has occurred to understand the ecological importance of this region for blue whales. Based on opportunistic sightings, we undertook 2 expeditions to assess the occurrence of blue whales. The overall goals were to determine blue whale distribution, obtain photo-identification data and collect the first acoustic data on this species in this region using a hydrophone deployed for a year. The expeditions consisted of vessel-based visual surveys that focused on the slope habitat (500-2000 m) off the northern portion of the Mahé Plateau. Over the 2 expeditions, a total of 5 sightings of up to 10 animals were seen. The results of our acoustic monitoring off Seychelles demonstrate that blue whales occur there regularly, primarily from December to April, and that the acoustic population identity matches that from near Sri Lanka. Published records and the results of our work suggest that blue whales from the northwestern Indian Ocean are seasonally present in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Indian The Antarctic Endangered Species Research 52 203 208 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
spellingShingle |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 KM Stafford G Boussarie M Caputo L Irvine S Laing E Nancy H Pearson JJ Kiszka Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
Historically, the Seychelles archipelago was an opportunistic whaling ground for fleets en route to and from the Antarctic. Soviet whalers illegally killed 500 blue whales near the Seychelles in the 1960s. Since then, no dedicated research has occurred to understand the ecological importance of this region for blue whales. Based on opportunistic sightings, we undertook 2 expeditions to assess the occurrence of blue whales. The overall goals were to determine blue whale distribution, obtain photo-identification data and collect the first acoustic data on this species in this region using a hydrophone deployed for a year. The expeditions consisted of vessel-based visual surveys that focused on the slope habitat (500-2000 m) off the northern portion of the Mahé Plateau. Over the 2 expeditions, a total of 5 sightings of up to 10 animals were seen. The results of our acoustic monitoring off Seychelles demonstrate that blue whales occur there regularly, primarily from December to April, and that the acoustic population identity matches that from near Sri Lanka. Published records and the results of our work suggest that blue whales from the northwestern Indian Ocean are seasonally present in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
KM Stafford G Boussarie M Caputo L Irvine S Laing E Nancy H Pearson JJ Kiszka |
author_facet |
KM Stafford G Boussarie M Caputo L Irvine S Laing E Nancy H Pearson JJ Kiszka |
author_sort |
KM Stafford |
title |
Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
title_short |
Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
title_full |
Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
title_fullStr |
Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Seychelles, western tropical Indian Ocean (2020-2022) |
title_sort |
acoustic detections and sightings of blue whales balaenoptera musculus in the seychelles, western tropical indian ocean (2020-2022) |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01277 https://doaj.org/article/0578741a91a14fa4ae682dc17c4c905b |
geographic |
Antarctic Indian The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Indian The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 52, Pp 203-208 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v52/p203-208/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01277 https://doaj.org/article/0578741a91a14fa4ae682dc17c4c905b |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01277 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
52 |
container_start_page |
203 |
op_container_end_page |
208 |
_version_ |
1788056634471219200 |