No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling
The global sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus population has been protected from large-scale commercial whaling for >25 yr, yet there is no clear evidence of recovery in any heavily exploited stock. This may indicate that whaling has long-term demographic effects on this species or that other end...
Published in: | Endangered Species Research |
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2014
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/no-evidence-for-recovery-in-the-population-of-sperm-whale-bulls-offwestern-australia-30-years-postwhaling(4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40 2024-06-23T07:56:13+00:00 No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling Carroll, G. Hedley, Sharon Louise Bannister, J. Ensor, P. Harcourt, R. 2014-01-01 https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/no-evidence-for-recovery-in-the-population-of-sperm-whale-bulls-offwestern-australia-30-years-postwhaling(4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/no-evidence-for-recovery-in-the-population-of-sperm-whale-bulls-offwestern-australia-30-years-postwhaling(4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40).html info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Carroll , G , Hedley , S L , Bannister , J , Ensor , P & Harcourt , R 2014 , ' No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 24 , no. 1 , pp. 33-43 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 article 2014 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 2024-06-13T00:44:41Z The global sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus population has been protected from large-scale commercial whaling for >25 yr, yet there is no clear evidence of recovery in any heavily exploited stock. This may indicate that whaling has long-term demographic effects on this species or that other endogenous or exogenous processes are inhibiting population growth. This study investigates the status of mature sperm bulls offAlbany, Western Australia, a population reduced through whaling by 74% between 1955 and 1978. We conducted an aerial survey designed as far as possible to provide an index of abundance comparable with that derived from the whale 'spotter' planes employed by the Albany whaling company from 1968 to 1978, using the number of sperm bulls seen on each morning flight as a comparative index between bulls seen historically and in 2009. The mean number of sperm bulls seen on transect in 2009 was 2.43 (95% percentile interval [0.96, 6.08]); this increased to 3.38 (95% percentile interval [1.30, 7.60]) when sightings offtransect were included. Both 2009 point estimates were lower than the mean (±SE) number seen in any of the years between 1968 and 1978, which ranged from 6.30 (±1.18) in 1976 to 12.45 (±1.83) in 1968. The lack of recovery in the population of bull sperm whales offAlbany, despite full protection, is of concern and adds weight to the growing body of evidence that suggests that sperm whales may not be recovering effectively from past exploitation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale University of St Andrews: Research Portal Endangered Species Research 24 1 33 43 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
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ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
description |
The global sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus population has been protected from large-scale commercial whaling for >25 yr, yet there is no clear evidence of recovery in any heavily exploited stock. This may indicate that whaling has long-term demographic effects on this species or that other endogenous or exogenous processes are inhibiting population growth. This study investigates the status of mature sperm bulls offAlbany, Western Australia, a population reduced through whaling by 74% between 1955 and 1978. We conducted an aerial survey designed as far as possible to provide an index of abundance comparable with that derived from the whale 'spotter' planes employed by the Albany whaling company from 1968 to 1978, using the number of sperm bulls seen on each morning flight as a comparative index between bulls seen historically and in 2009. The mean number of sperm bulls seen on transect in 2009 was 2.43 (95% percentile interval [0.96, 6.08]); this increased to 3.38 (95% percentile interval [1.30, 7.60]) when sightings offtransect were included. Both 2009 point estimates were lower than the mean (±SE) number seen in any of the years between 1968 and 1978, which ranged from 6.30 (±1.18) in 1976 to 12.45 (±1.83) in 1968. The lack of recovery in the population of bull sperm whales offAlbany, despite full protection, is of concern and adds weight to the growing body of evidence that suggests that sperm whales may not be recovering effectively from past exploitation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carroll, G. Hedley, Sharon Louise Bannister, J. Ensor, P. Harcourt, R. |
spellingShingle |
Carroll, G. Hedley, Sharon Louise Bannister, J. Ensor, P. Harcourt, R. No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
author_facet |
Carroll, G. Hedley, Sharon Louise Bannister, J. Ensor, P. Harcourt, R. |
author_sort |
Carroll, G. |
title |
No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
title_short |
No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
title_full |
No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
title_fullStr |
No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
title_full_unstemmed |
No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling |
title_sort |
no evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offwestern australia, 30 years post-whaling |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/no-evidence-for-recovery-in-the-population-of-sperm-whale-bulls-offwestern-australia-30-years-postwhaling(4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
op_source |
Carroll , G , Hedley , S L , Bannister , J , Ensor , P & Harcourt , R 2014 , ' No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls offWestern Australia, 30 years post-whaling ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 24 , no. 1 , pp. 33-43 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/no-evidence-for-recovery-in-the-population-of-sperm-whale-bulls-offwestern-australia-30-years-postwhaling(4366b01b-02d4-4432-9584-a1c812e39f40).html |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00584 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
33 |
op_container_end_page |
43 |
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1802649165612711936 |