North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality
© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181, doi:10.3354/meps12315. Endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis suffer from un...
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ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/9393 2023-05-15T15:47:58+02:00 North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality Baumgartner, Mark F. Wenzel, Frederick W. Lysiak, Nadine S. J. Patrician, Melissa R. 2017-10-13 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/9393 en_US eng Inter-Research https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12315 Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/9393 doi:10.3354/meps12315 Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181 doi:10.3354/meps12315 Eubalaena glacialis Calanus finmarchicus Diving behavior Entanglement Ship strike Article 2017 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12315 2022-05-28T23:00:04Z © The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181, doi:10.3354/meps12315. Endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis suffer from unacceptably high rates of ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements, but little is known of the role that diving and foraging behavior plays in mediating human-caused mortality. We conducted a study of right whale foraging ecology by attaching tags to whales for short periods of time (hours), tracking their movements during daytime, and repeatedly sampling oceanographic conditions and prey distribution along the whales’ tracks. Right whales were tagged from late winter to late fall in 6 regions of the Gulf of Maine and southwestern Scotian Shelf from 2000 to 2010. The diving behavior of the tagged whales was governed by the vertical distribution of their primary prey, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. On average, right whales tagged during spring spent 72% of their time in the upper 10 m (within the draft of most large commercial vessels), indicating the need for expanded ship speed restrictions in western Gulf of Maine springtime habitats. One out of every 4 whales dove to within 5 m of the sea floor during the short time they were tagged, spending as much as 45% of their total tagged time in this depth stratum. Right whales dove to the sea floor in each habitat studied except for one (where only 1 whale was tagged). This relatively high incidence of near-bottom diving raises serious concerns about the continued use of floating ground lines in pot and trap gear in coastal Maine and Canadian waters. Support for this research was provided by the NOAA Right Whale Grants Program, Northeast Consortium, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Office of Naval Research. Article in Journal/Newspaper Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 165 181 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
topic |
Eubalaena glacialis Calanus finmarchicus Diving behavior Entanglement Ship strike |
spellingShingle |
Eubalaena glacialis Calanus finmarchicus Diving behavior Entanglement Ship strike Baumgartner, Mark F. Wenzel, Frederick W. Lysiak, Nadine S. J. Patrician, Melissa R. North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
topic_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis Calanus finmarchicus Diving behavior Entanglement Ship strike |
description |
© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181, doi:10.3354/meps12315. Endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis suffer from unacceptably high rates of ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements, but little is known of the role that diving and foraging behavior plays in mediating human-caused mortality. We conducted a study of right whale foraging ecology by attaching tags to whales for short periods of time (hours), tracking their movements during daytime, and repeatedly sampling oceanographic conditions and prey distribution along the whales’ tracks. Right whales were tagged from late winter to late fall in 6 regions of the Gulf of Maine and southwestern Scotian Shelf from 2000 to 2010. The diving behavior of the tagged whales was governed by the vertical distribution of their primary prey, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. On average, right whales tagged during spring spent 72% of their time in the upper 10 m (within the draft of most large commercial vessels), indicating the need for expanded ship speed restrictions in western Gulf of Maine springtime habitats. One out of every 4 whales dove to within 5 m of the sea floor during the short time they were tagged, spending as much as 45% of their total tagged time in this depth stratum. Right whales dove to the sea floor in each habitat studied except for one (where only 1 whale was tagged). This relatively high incidence of near-bottom diving raises serious concerns about the continued use of floating ground lines in pot and trap gear in coastal Maine and Canadian waters. Support for this research was provided by the NOAA Right Whale Grants Program, Northeast Consortium, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Office of Naval Research. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Baumgartner, Mark F. Wenzel, Frederick W. Lysiak, Nadine S. J. Patrician, Melissa R. |
author_facet |
Baumgartner, Mark F. Wenzel, Frederick W. Lysiak, Nadine S. J. Patrician, Melissa R. |
author_sort |
Baumgartner, Mark F. |
title |
North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
title_short |
North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
title_full |
North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
title_fullStr |
North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
title_full_unstemmed |
North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
title_sort |
north atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/9393 |
genre |
Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181 doi:10.3354/meps12315 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12315 Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/9393 doi:10.3354/meps12315 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12315 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
581 |
container_start_page |
165 |
op_container_end_page |
181 |
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1766382954373709824 |