Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the recent publication of our manuscript in PLOS One:
Irvine LM, Mate BR, Winsor MH, Palacios DM, Bograd SJ, et al. (2014) Spatial and Temporal Occurrence of Blue Whales off the U.S. West Coast, with Implications for Management. PLoS ONE 9(7): e102959. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102959 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102959 This manuscript is the most comprehensive study of blue whale movements to date. In the paper we use a data set of blue whale satellite tracks spanning 15 years to describe the timing of their occurrence off the U.S. West Coast and identify high use areas within and across years. We found that the whales were most abundant in the summer and fall with southward migration typically beginning from mid-October to mid-November. The distribution of tagged blue whales shifted northward in the fall. We found that the two areas of highest use by tagged whales are crossed by heavily used shipping lanes off San Francisco and Los Angeles. We note that moving the shipping lanes could significantly decrease the probability of ships striking the whales. Please contact me with any questions ([email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>) Ladd Irvine Sr. Faculty Research Assistant Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute Hatfield Marine Science Center 2030 S Marine Science Dr. Newport, OR 97365 Phone: 541-867-0394 www.mmi.oregonstate.edu
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