| Summary: | Seasonality of fin whale occurrence in the Kitimat Fjord System. (A) Monthly distribution of kills during local whaling, 1927–1966, not corrected for effort. (B) Monthly distribution of sightings reported to the BC Cetacean Sightings Network, 1994–2019 (“certain” reports only), not corrected for effort. (C–E) Effort-corrected encounter rates (whales detected per km transited) in two-week calendar bins, scaled by the maximum observed during surveys along planned sourtes by the Gitga’at Guardian Watchmen (2005–2018) and aboard RV Elemiah (2006–2016) and during line transect sampling aboard RV Bangarang (2013–2015). (F–H) Effort-corrected detection rates from shore-based observation platforms in the fjord system’s outer waters of Caamano Sound (2010, 2011, 2014, 2019), central waters in south Gil Basin (2011–2016), and Squally Channel further inland (2017–2019). Shore-based detection rates (whales detected per hour of scan effort) were scaled by the maximum observed in each year then averaged across years for each two-week calendar bin. Grey vertical bars indicate standard error about the mean (black dot).
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