Have whales returned to a historical hotspot of industrial whaling? the pattern of southern right whale Eubalaena australis recovery at South Georgia

• Published in: Endangered Species Research
• Main Authors: Jackson, Jennifer A., Kennedy, Amy S., Moore, Michael J., Andriolo, Artur, Bamford, Connor C. G., Calderan, Susannah, Cheeseman, Ted, Gittins, George, Groch, Karina, Kelly, Natalie, Leaper, Russell, Leslie, Matthew S., Lurcock, Sarah, Miller, Brian S., Richardson, Jessica, Rowntree, Victoria, Smith, Patrick, Stepien, Emilie N., Stowasser, Gabriele, Trathan, Phil N., Vermeulen, Els, Zerbini, Alexandre N., Carroll, Emma
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Inter Research 2020
• Subjects: Eubalaena australis; Whale; Whaling; Antarctic; Recovery; Habitat use; Argentina; Carroll; Antarc*; South Georgia Museum; Southern Right Whale
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1912/26968

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Jackson, J. A., Kennedy, A., Moore, M., Andriolo, A., Bamford, C. C. G., Calderan, S., Cheeseman, T., Gittins, G., Groch, K., Kelly, N., Leaper, R., Leslie, M. S., Lurcock, S., Miller, B. S., Richardson, J., Rowntree, V., Smith, P., Stepien, E., Stowasser, G., Trathan, P., Vermeulen, E., Zerbini, A. N., & Carroll, E. L. Have whales returned to a historical hotspot of industrial whaling? the pattern of southern right whale Eubalaena australis recovery at South Georgia. Endangered Species Research, 43, (2020): 323-339, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01072. Around 176500 whales were killed in the sub-Antarctic waters off South Georgia (South Atlantic) between 1904 and 1965. In recent decades, whales have once again become summer visitors, with the southern right whale (SRW) the most commonly reported species until 2011. Here, we assess the distribution, temporal pattern, health status and likely prey of SRWs in these waters, combining observations from a summertime vessel-based expedition to South Georgia, stable isotope data collected from SRWs and putative prey and sightings reports collated by the South Georgia Museum. The expedition used directional acoustics and visual surveys to localise whales and collected skin biopsies and photo-IDs. During 76 h of visual observation effort over 19 expedition days, SRWs were encountered 15 times (~31 individuals). Photo-IDs, combined with publicly contributed images from commercial vessels, were reconciled and quality-controlled to form a catalogue of 6 fully (i.e. both sides) identified SRWs and 26 SRWs identified by either left or right sides. No photo-ID matches were found with lower-latitude calving grounds, but 3 whales had gull lesions supporting a direct link with Península Valdés, Argentina. The isotopic position of SRWs in the South Georgia food web suggests feeding on a combination of copepod and krill species. ...