Dear Colleagues-
We wanted to draw your attention to our recently published manuscript on
the seasonal presence of right whales in Massachusetts Bay:
Morano, J. L., A. N. Rice, J. T. Tielens, B. J. Estabrook, A. Murray, B.
Roberts, and C. W. Clark. 2012. Acoustically detected year-round
presence of right whales in an urbanized migration corridor.
Conservation Biology 26:698-707.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01866.x/abstract
Abstract:
Species' conservation relies on understanding their seasonal habitats
and migration routes. North Atlantic right whales (/Eubalaena
glacialis/), listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act,
migrate from the southeastern U.S. coast to Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts,
a federally designated critical habitat, from February through May to
feed. The whales then continue north across the Gulf of Maine to
northern waters (e.g., Bay of Fundy). To enter Cape Cod Bay, right
whales must traverse an area of dense shipping and fishing activity in
Massachusetts Bay, where there are no mandatory regulations for the
protection of right whales or management of their habitat. We used
passive acoustic recordings of right whales collected in Massachusetts
Bay from May 2007 through October 2010 to determine the annual spatial
and temporal distribution of the whales and their calling activity. We
detected right whales in the bay throughout the year, in contrast to
results from visual surveys. Right whales were detected on at least 24%
of days in each month, with the exception of June 2007, in which there
were no detections. Averaged over all years, right whale calls were most
abundant from February through May. During this period, calls were most
frequent between 17:00 and 20:00 local time; no diel pattern was
apparent in other months. The spatial distribution of the approximate
locations of calling whales suggests they may use Massachusetts Bay as a
conduit to Cape Cod Bay in the spring and as they move between the Gulf
of Maine and waters to the south in September through December. Although
it is unclear how dependent right whales are on the bay, the discovery
of their widespread presence in Massachusetts Bay throughout the year
suggests this region may need to be managed to reduce the probability of
collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear.
--
Aaron N. Rice, Ph.D.
Science Director
Bioacoustics Research Program
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
Cornell University
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850-1999
Tel: 607.254.2178
Fax: 607.254.2460
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/aaronrice
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