Aerial survey perspectives on humpback whale resiliency in Maui Nui, Hawaiʻi, in the face of an unprecedented North Pacific marine warming event

Funding: The authors are grateful to our sponsors of the 2019–2020 aerial surveys including Dave Jung of Hawaii Ocean Project, Whale Trust, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, and The Dolphin Institute. Nina Forsyth was instrumental in organizing a GoFundMe drive that provided additional funding. After d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Mammal Science
Main Authors: Mobley Jr., Joseph R., Deakos, Mark H., Pack, Adam A., Bortolotto, Guilherme A.
Other Authors: University of St Andrews. School of Biology
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Climate change
Conservation
Density
Distance sampling
Humpback whales
Megaptera novaeangliae
Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH)
Resilience
GE Environmental Sciences
QL Zoology
NDAS
SDG 13 - Climate Action
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
AC
MCC
GE
QL
Humpback Whale
Alaska
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10023/29534
https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13018
Description
Summary:Funding: The authors are grateful to our sponsors of the 2019–2020 aerial surveys including Dave Jung of Hawaii Ocean Project, Whale Trust, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, and The Dolphin Institute. Nina Forsyth was instrumental in organizing a GoFundMe drive that provided additional funding. After decades of population growth, the central stock of the North Pacific population of humpback whales, known as the Hawaiʻi Distinct Population Segment (HDPS), was delisted from its endangered status in 2016. At that time, however, an unprecedented heating event, the Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH) was already underway. The PMH coincided with reports of major declines of sightings of humpback whales, including calves of the year, on both the Hawaiian wintering grounds and the feeding grounds of Southeast Alaska. To examine the resiliency of the HDPS, we conducted aerial surveys of the high-density Maui Nui region immediately following the PMH event in 2019 and 2020, using distance sampling methods identical to those used in an earlier series (1993–2003). Results showed whale densities at or above those seen earlier, with mean density for 2020 highest overall. Crude birth rates (percent groups containing a calf) were similarly comparable to those recorded in the earlier series, with an increase from 2019 to 2020. Overall, results suggest the central North Pacific humpback whale population stock to be resilient in the face of this major climatic event. Peer reviewed

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