Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon
Thank you to staff and managers at NSRAA, Armstrong Keta Inc. and NOAA for collecting data daily during their release seasons. Bart Watson collaborated in study design. Thank you to Elena McCauley, R. Katy Pendell and Margaret Schoenfeld for data entry. Humpback whales are remarkable for the behavio...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11937 |
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ftunivalaska:oai:scholarworks.alaska.edu:11122/11937 2023-05-15T16:36:07+02:00 Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon Chenoweth, Ellen M. Straley, Janice M. McPhee, Megan V. Atkinson, Shannon Reifenstuhl, Steve 2017-06-07 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11937 en_US eng The Royal Society Publishing Chenoweth EM, Straley JM, McPhee MV, Atkinson S, Reifenstuhl S. 2017 Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon.R. Soc. open sci. 4: 170180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170180 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11937 Royal Society Open Science Megaptera novaeangliae Oncorhynchus spp marine mammal–fishery interactions aquaculture foraging behavior Humpback whales Southeast Alaska Article 2017 ftunivalaska https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170180 2023-02-23T21:37:48Z Thank you to staff and managers at NSRAA, Armstrong Keta Inc. and NOAA for collecting data daily during their release seasons. Bart Watson collaborated in study design. Thank you to Elena McCauley, R. Katy Pendell and Margaret Schoenfeld for data entry. Humpback whales are remarkable for the behavioural plasticity of their feeding tactics and the diversity of their diets. Within the last decade at hatchery release sites in Southeast Alaska, humpback whales have begun exploiting juvenile salmon, a previously undocumented prey. The anthropogenic source of these salmon and their important contribution to local fisheries makes the emergence of humpback whale predation a concern for the Southeast Alaska economy. Here, we describe the frequency of observing humpback whales, examine the role of temporal and spatial variables affecting the probability of sighting humpback whales and describe prey capture behaviours at five hatchery release sites. We coordinated twice daily 15 min observations during the spring release seasons 2010–2015. Using logistic regression, we determined that the probability of occurrence of humpback whales increased after releases began and decreased after releases concluded. The probability of whale occurrence varied among release sites but did not increase significantly over the 6 year study period. Whales were reported to be feeding on juvenile chum, Chinook and coho salmon, with photographic and video records of whales feeding on coho salmon. The ability to adapt to new prey sources may be key to sustaining their population in a changing ocean. Yes Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Alaska University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA Keta ENVELOPE(-19.455,-19.455,65.656,65.656) McCauley ENVELOPE(63.148,63.148,-73.156,-73.156) Royal Society Open Science 4 7 170180 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Alaska: ScholarWorks@UA |
op_collection_id |
ftunivalaska |
language |
English |
topic |
Megaptera novaeangliae Oncorhynchus spp marine mammal–fishery interactions aquaculture foraging behavior Humpback whales Southeast Alaska |
spellingShingle |
Megaptera novaeangliae Oncorhynchus spp marine mammal–fishery interactions aquaculture foraging behavior Humpback whales Southeast Alaska Chenoweth, Ellen M. Straley, Janice M. McPhee, Megan V. Atkinson, Shannon Reifenstuhl, Steve Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
topic_facet |
Megaptera novaeangliae Oncorhynchus spp marine mammal–fishery interactions aquaculture foraging behavior Humpback whales Southeast Alaska |
description |
Thank you to staff and managers at NSRAA, Armstrong Keta Inc. and NOAA for collecting data daily during their release seasons. Bart Watson collaborated in study design. Thank you to Elena McCauley, R. Katy Pendell and Margaret Schoenfeld for data entry. Humpback whales are remarkable for the behavioural plasticity of their feeding tactics and the diversity of their diets. Within the last decade at hatchery release sites in Southeast Alaska, humpback whales have begun exploiting juvenile salmon, a previously undocumented prey. The anthropogenic source of these salmon and their important contribution to local fisheries makes the emergence of humpback whale predation a concern for the Southeast Alaska economy. Here, we describe the frequency of observing humpback whales, examine the role of temporal and spatial variables affecting the probability of sighting humpback whales and describe prey capture behaviours at five hatchery release sites. We coordinated twice daily 15 min observations during the spring release seasons 2010–2015. Using logistic regression, we determined that the probability of occurrence of humpback whales increased after releases began and decreased after releases concluded. The probability of whale occurrence varied among release sites but did not increase significantly over the 6 year study period. Whales were reported to be feeding on juvenile chum, Chinook and coho salmon, with photographic and video records of whales feeding on coho salmon. The ability to adapt to new prey sources may be key to sustaining their population in a changing ocean. Yes |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chenoweth, Ellen M. Straley, Janice M. McPhee, Megan V. Atkinson, Shannon Reifenstuhl, Steve |
author_facet |
Chenoweth, Ellen M. Straley, Janice M. McPhee, Megan V. Atkinson, Shannon Reifenstuhl, Steve |
author_sort |
Chenoweth, Ellen M. |
title |
Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
title_short |
Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
title_full |
Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
title_fullStr |
Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
title_full_unstemmed |
Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
title_sort |
humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon |
publisher |
The Royal Society Publishing |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11937 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-19.455,-19.455,65.656,65.656) ENVELOPE(63.148,63.148,-73.156,-73.156) |
geographic |
Keta McCauley |
geographic_facet |
Keta McCauley |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Alaska |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Alaska |
op_relation |
Chenoweth EM, Straley JM, McPhee MV, Atkinson S, Reifenstuhl S. 2017 Humpback whales feed on hatchery-released juvenile salmon.R. Soc. open sci. 4: 170180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170180 http://hdl.handle.net/11122/11937 Royal Society Open Science |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170180 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
170180 |
_version_ |
1766026429199286272 |