Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific
Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae were severely depleted by commercial whaling. Understanding key factors in their recovery is a crucial step for their conservation worldwide. In Oceania, the Chesterfield-Bellona archipelago was a primary whaling site in the 19th century, yet has been left almo...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:81fa054d27564b1991c1223c1ee7230a 2023-05-15T16:36:09+02:00 Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific Garrigue, C Derville, S Bonneville, C Baker, CS Cheeseman, T Millet, L Paton, D Steel, D 2020-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01038 https://doaj.org/article/81fa054d27564b1991c1223c1ee7230a EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v42/p67-82/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01038 https://doaj.org/article/81fa054d27564b1991c1223c1ee7230a Endangered Species Research, Vol 42, Pp 67-82 (2020) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01038 2022-12-31T10:37:06Z Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae were severely depleted by commercial whaling. Understanding key factors in their recovery is a crucial step for their conservation worldwide. In Oceania, the Chesterfield-Bellona archipelago was a primary whaling site in the 19th century, yet has been left almost unaffected by anthropogenic activities since. We present the results of the first multidisciplinary dedicated surveys in the archipelago assessing humpback whale populations 2 centuries post-whaling. We encountered 57 groups during 24 survey days (2016-2017), among which 35 whales were identified using photographs of natural markings (photo-ID), 38 using genotyping and 22 using both. Humpback whales were sparsely distributed (0.041 whales km-1): most sightings concentrated in shallow inner-reef waters and neighbouring offshore shallow banks. The recently created marine protected area covers most of the areas of high predicted habitat suitability and high residence time from satellite-tracked whales. Surprisingly for a breeding area, sex ratios skewed towards females (1:2.4), and 45% of females were with calf. Connectivity was established with the New Caledonia breeding area to the east (mtDNA FST = 0.001, p > 0.05, 12 photo-ID and 10 genotype matches) and with the Australian Great Barrier Reef breeding area to the west (mtDNA FST = 0.006, p > 0.05). Movement of satellite-tracked whales and photo-ID matches also suggest connections with the east Australian migratory corridor. This study confirms that humpback whales still inhabit the Chesterfield-Bellona archipelago 2 centuries post whaling, and that this pristine area potentially plays a role in facilitating migratory interchange among breeding grounds of the western South Pacific. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Inner Reef ENVELOPE(-37.133,-37.133,-54.100,-54.100) Endangered Species Research 42 67 82 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
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 Garrigue, C Derville, S Bonneville, C Baker, CS Cheeseman, T Millet, L Paton, D Steel, D Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae were severely depleted by commercial whaling. Understanding key factors in their recovery is a crucial step for their conservation worldwide. In Oceania, the Chesterfield-Bellona archipelago was a primary whaling site in the 19th century, yet has been left almost unaffected by anthropogenic activities since. We present the results of the first multidisciplinary dedicated surveys in the archipelago assessing humpback whale populations 2 centuries post-whaling. We encountered 57 groups during 24 survey days (2016-2017), among which 35 whales were identified using photographs of natural markings (photo-ID), 38 using genotyping and 22 using both. Humpback whales were sparsely distributed (0.041 whales km-1): most sightings concentrated in shallow inner-reef waters and neighbouring offshore shallow banks. The recently created marine protected area covers most of the areas of high predicted habitat suitability and high residence time from satellite-tracked whales. Surprisingly for a breeding area, sex ratios skewed towards females (1:2.4), and 45% of females were with calf. Connectivity was established with the New Caledonia breeding area to the east (mtDNA FST = 0.001, p > 0.05, 12 photo-ID and 10 genotype matches) and with the Australian Great Barrier Reef breeding area to the west (mtDNA FST = 0.006, p > 0.05). Movement of satellite-tracked whales and photo-ID matches also suggest connections with the east Australian migratory corridor. This study confirms that humpback whales still inhabit the Chesterfield-Bellona archipelago 2 centuries post whaling, and that this pristine area potentially plays a role in facilitating migratory interchange among breeding grounds of the western South Pacific. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Garrigue, C Derville, S Bonneville, C Baker, CS Cheeseman, T Millet, L Paton, D Steel, D |
author_facet |
Garrigue, C Derville, S Bonneville, C Baker, CS Cheeseman, T Millet, L Paton, D Steel, D |
author_sort |
Garrigue, C |
title |
Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
title_short |
Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
title_full |
Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
title_fullStr |
Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
title_full_unstemmed |
Searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the Coral Sea, South Pacific |
title_sort |
searching for humpback whales in a historical whaling hotspot of the coral sea, south pacific |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01038 https://doaj.org/article/81fa054d27564b1991c1223c1ee7230a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-37.133,-37.133,-54.100,-54.100) |
geographic |
Pacific Inner Reef |
geographic_facet |
Pacific Inner Reef |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 42, Pp 67-82 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v42/p67-82/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01038 https://doaj.org/article/81fa054d27564b1991c1223c1ee7230a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01038 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
42 |
container_start_page |
67 |
op_container_end_page |
82 |
_version_ |
1766026452512276480 |