Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland
Aerial surveys of belugas, or white whales, Delphinapterus leucas , were conducted off West Greenland in March 1993 and 1994. These surveys were designed to permit comparisons with similar surveys in 1981, 1982, and 1991. Differences in methods between the surveys in the early 1980s and those in the...
Published in: | ICES Journal of Marine Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Oxford University Press
1996
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/61 https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 |
id |
fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:icesjms:53/1/61 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:icesjms:53/1/61 2023-05-15T15:41:50+02:00 Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. Reeves, Randall R. 1996-02-01 00:00:00.0 text/html http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/61 https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 en eng Oxford University Press http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/61 http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 Copyright (C) 1996, International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer Articles TEXT 1996 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 2013-05-26T13:05:12Z Aerial surveys of belugas, or white whales, Delphinapterus leucas , were conducted off West Greenland in March 1993 and 1994. These surveys were designed to permit comparisons with similar surveys in 1981, 1982, and 1991. Differences in methods between the surveys in the early 1980s and those in the 1990s should mean that the 1990s surveys were, if anything, more efficient than the 1980s surveys. Weighted linear regressions of strip-census estimates of the relative abundance of belugas showed a significant decline from 1981 to 1994. While annual variability in ice conditions and other unknown factors may have had some local or small-scale effects on the movements and distribution of belugas off West Greenland, it is unlikely that these effects would account for the apparent decline in relative abundance. The most reasonable conclusion is that the stock size has declined considerably during the past 13 years, perhaps by as much as 62%. Text Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Greenland HighWire Press (Stanford University) Greenland ICES Journal of Marine Science 53 1 61 72 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
op_collection_id |
fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Articles |
spellingShingle |
Articles Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. Reeves, Randall R. Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
topic_facet |
Articles |
description |
Aerial surveys of belugas, or white whales, Delphinapterus leucas , were conducted off West Greenland in March 1993 and 1994. These surveys were designed to permit comparisons with similar surveys in 1981, 1982, and 1991. Differences in methods between the surveys in the early 1980s and those in the 1990s should mean that the 1990s surveys were, if anything, more efficient than the 1980s surveys. Weighted linear regressions of strip-census estimates of the relative abundance of belugas showed a significant decline from 1981 to 1994. While annual variability in ice conditions and other unknown factors may have had some local or small-scale effects on the movements and distribution of belugas off West Greenland, it is unlikely that these effects would account for the apparent decline in relative abundance. The most reasonable conclusion is that the stock size has declined considerably during the past 13 years, perhaps by as much as 62%. |
format |
Text |
author |
Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. Reeves, Randall R. |
author_facet |
Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. Reeves, Randall R. |
author_sort |
Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. |
title |
Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
title_short |
Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
title_full |
Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence of a decline in beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance off West Greenland |
title_sort |
evidence of a decline in beluga, delphinapterus leucas, abundance off west greenland |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
1996 |
url |
http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/61 https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Greenland |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Greenland |
op_relation |
http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/53/1/61 http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 1996, International Council for the Exploration of the Sea/Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1006/jmsc.1996.0006 |
container_title |
ICES Journal of Marine Science |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
61 |
op_container_end_page |
72 |
_version_ |
1766374719874924544 |