Feeding grounds of the eastern South Pacific humpback whale population include the South Orkney Islands

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Luciano Dalla Rosa, Fernando Félix, Peter T. Stevick, Eduardo R. Secchi, Judith M. Allen, Kim Chater, Anthony R. Martin, Manuela Bassoi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2012
• Subjects: Humpback whale; photo-identification; breeding stocks; migration; South Orkney Islands; Southern Ocean; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Oceanography; GC1-1581; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Bransfield Strait; Pacific; Weddell; Antarc*; Humpback Whale; Megaptera novaeangliae; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.17324; https://doaj.org/article/d690d3240ffd4b7bb3eb4b9c939d36eb

This paper reports on two photo-identified humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that were sighted in different years in the proximity of the South Orkney Islands, at the boundary between the Scotia and Weddell seas (60°54.5'S—46°40.4'W and 60°42.6'S—45°33'W). One of the whales had been previously sighted off Ecuador, a breeding ground for the eastern South Pacific population. The other whale was subsequently resighted in Bransfield Strait, off the western Antarctic Peninsula, a well-documented feeding ground for the same population. These matches give support to a hypothesis that the area south of the South Orkney Islands is occupied by whales from the eastern South Pacific breeding stock. Consequently, we propose 40°W as a new longitudinal boundary between the feeding grounds associated with the eastern South Pacific and western South Atlantic breeding stocks.