Antarctic waters(Area V) near the Balleny Islands are a summer feeding area for some Eastern Australian (E(i) breeding group) Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) (original) (raw)
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Discovery mark tagging provided the first evidence of linkages between eastern Australian and Oceania Humpback whale breeding grounds and the Antarctic Area V feeding areas. Early investigation of movements of humpback whales in the Western Pacific led to the view that the Balleny Islands and the Ross Sea were the summer destinations for humpback whales from eastern Australia and the Oceania breeding grounds. Recent photo-identification (ID) studies provided further evidence of low levels of migratory interchange and complex linkages within Oceania and between eastern Australia and Oceania. We report here the migratory movement of three humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) between Eastern Australia (E(i) breeding stock) and the Area V Antarctic feeding area in the vicinity of the Balleny Islands. Using photo-ID techniques, comparisons between a Balleny Island fluke catalogue (n = 11 individuals) and existing fluke catalogues from eastern Australia (n = 3,120 individuals) and Oceania (n = 725 individuals), yielded three matches to Hervey Bay, Byron Bay and Ballina in eastern Australia and no matches to Oceania. The eastern Australia catalogue (n = 3,120) was made up of Hervey Bay (n = 1,556), Byron Bay, (n = 916) and Ballina (n = 648). The Oceania catalogue (n = 725) is made up of Tonga (n = 282); New Caledonia (n = 160); French Polynesia (n = 159); New Zealand (n = 41); Cook Islands (n = 36); American Samoa (n = 31); Vanuatu, Niue, Samoa and Fiji (n = 11) and Norfolk Island (n = 5). Only three previous individual photo-ID matches have been reported between eastern Australia Breeding Stock E(i) and Antarctic Area V feeding areas in the vicinity of the Balleny Islands and the Ross Sea. Only one genotype match has been reported between Antarctic Area V feeding areas and Oceania breeding grounds. An analysis of the frequencies of whales seen and not seen in the Balleny Islands, Oceania and eastern Australia, relative to the expected frequencies, based on the estimated population sizes and the sizes of the catalogues, supports the hypothesis that Antarctic Area V waters, in the vicinity of the Balleny islands, is a summer feeding area for some eastern Australian humpback whales.
IWC Scientific Committee SC/60/SH3.14pp. (unpublished). [available from the office of this Journal]., 2008
Investigation of the migratory movement of humpback whales past New Zealand in the 1950s and early 1960s suggested that the primary factor influencing the migratory flow past New Zealand was behaviour associated with breeding and feeding. To the north humpback whales gathered in concentrated breeding assemblages, along the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and nearby islands of the Western Pacific, at locations with suitable coastal conditions. To the south humpback whales dispersed widely across the Antarctic Area V feeding areas. Discovery Tag marks provided the first evidence of linkages between Eastern Australia, New Zealand and Oceania and Antarctic Area V feeding areas and also revealed low levels of intermingling of individual humpbacks between isolated tropical breeding grounds in Western Australia, Eastern Australia and Oceania. Asimultaneous, near total collapse of the Eastern Australian, Norfolk Island, New Zealand and Oceania stocksoccurred in the early 1960’s as a result of commercial whaling, particularly the illegal whaling conducted by theSoviets in the Area V feeding areas. Recent photo-identification and genetic studies have identified at least 5discrete breeding sub-populations in Australia and Oceania; Western Australia (D), Eastern Australia (E1), New Caledonia (E2), Tonga (E3) and Cook Island’s and French Polynesia (F). Also evident are low levels of intermingling amongst breeding sub-populations consistent with the degree of genetic differentiation. Photoidentification has confirmed linkages between Antarctic Area V feeding areas and Eastern Australia and onegenotype match has been reported between Antarctic Area V feeding areas and Oceania breeding grounds. Recent abundance estimates show steady increases of the Eastern Australian population, some recovery in the New Caledonia and Tonga population with little evidence of recovery at other known Oceania breeding areasand in New Zealand. Studies to date have provided no conclusive evidence of the migratory destination of the New Zealand population traveling from Antarctic Area V feeding areas to tropical breeding grounds. Here we use recent photo-identification data to investigate and discuss the migratory destination of humpback whalestraveling through New Zealand waters and suggest the hypothesis that humpbacks with site fidelity to Eastern Australia may migrate past the South Island of New Zealand including through the Cook Strait and FoveauxStrait.
Journal of Cetacean Research and Management , 2014
Recent photo-identification and genetic studies have identified at least five discrete breeding populations in Australia and Oceania: western Australia (D), eastern Australia (E (i)), New Caledonia (E (ii)), Tonga (E (iii)), French Polynesia and the Cook Islands (F). Also evident are low levels of intermingling among breeding populations consistent with the degree of genetic differentiation. Photo-identification has confirmed linkages between Area V feeding areas and eastern Australia breeding grounds and one genotype match has been reported between Area V feeding areas and Oceania breeding grounds. Recent abundance estimates show strong increases in the eastern Australian population, and some recovery in the New Caledonia and Tonga populations, but with little evidence of recovery at other known Oceania breeding grounds or New Zealand. Studies to date have provided no conclusive evidence of the migratory destination of humpback whales passing through New Zealand waters en route between Antarctic feeding areas and tropical breeding grounds. Photo-identification comparisons were undertaken between humpback whale fluke catalogues from eastern Australia (EA, 1315), Oceania east (OE, 513), Oceania west (OW, 166) and New Zealand (NZ, 13). Five matches were found between OE/OW, four matches between OW/EA and three matches between NZ/EA. The data are used to investigate and discuss the migratory destination and breeding ground migratory interchange of humpback whales travelling through New Zealand waters. The data confirm that humpback whales with site fidelity to eastern Australia migrate past New Zealand including through the Cook Strait and Foveaux Strait.
Comprehensive photo-identification matching of Antarctic Area V humpback whales
Report (SC/63/SH16) to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, Tromso, Norway. 11pp. (unpublished). [available from the office of this journal], 2011
This paper reports on a comprehensive matching of humpback whale fluke photographs from Antarctic Area V to the migratory corridors and breeding grounds from Western Australia in the west to American Samoa, South Pacific in the east, and to the other Antarctic regions. A total of 61 unique whales were identified in Antarctic Area V during January 2010 by the French CETA project (n = 2) and February – March 2010 by the Antarctic Whale Expedition (n = 59), a joint research effort by Australia and New Zealand. These images were placed on an open access web-site and researchers compared their existing catalogues to the AWE dataset. These images were matched against a total of 17,243 fluke identification images (including an unknown number of duplicates) collected from 1984 – 2010; west Australia (n = 1,664), east Australia (n = 9,994 images), Norfolk Island (n = 6); New Zealand (n = 100); west Oceania (n = 1,806); Breeding stocks A – G (n = 2,403) and Antarctica Peninsula, Chile and feeding areas II – VI (n = 1,270). Forty-one percent (n = 25) of the 2010 Antarctic images matched to existing catalogues; 24 matched to east Australia and 1 matched to New Caledonia. The majority of the 2010 whales were photographed in the vicinity of the Balleny Islands, which adds support to previous opportunistic studies linking individuals in this region of Area V to east Australia but not to west Australia or Oceania. Similar results have been reported with molecular data from tissue samples collected during the same 2010 surveys (Steel et al. 2011). These data clearly show that the Balleny Islands are an important feeding ground for east Australian humpback whales but that the feeding grounds for the west Australia and endangered Oceania whales remain poorly described and understood.
Remote Antarctic feeding ground important for east Australian humpback whales
Marine Biology, 2014
Understanding the dynamics of population recovery is particularly complex when an organism has multiple, remote breeding and feeding grounds separated by one of the longest known migration routes. This study reports on the most comprehensive assessment of humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) movements between remote Antarctic waters south of New Zealand and east Australia (EA), and the migratory corridors and breeding grounds of Australia and Oceania. A total of 112 individual whales wereidentified; 57 from microsatellites and 61 by fluke with23 % (n = 26) matched to sites outside Antarctica. Despite large datasets from other southern regions being included in the comparison, the whales were predominantly linked to EA (n = 24). Only two matches to the Oceania catalogues directly north was surprising; therefore the primary feeding grounds of these endangered whales still remain unknown. The confirmation of the Balleny Islands as an important feeding ground for EA whales could provide an insight into reasons behind the rapid recovery of this population. Determining the feeding grounds of Oceania’s whales may explain whether prey energetics or migration length are limiting factors to their recovery and will allow an understandingof future ecosystem changes in these whales.
. IWC Scientific Committee SC/59/SH18. 5pp. (unpublished). [available from the office of this Journal], 2007
Using photo-identification, we report here migratory movements of three humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) between the E1 breeding area (eastern Australia) and the Area V. Only three previous individual matches have been reported between the E1 breeding grounds and Antarctic Area V feeding grounds. Photo-identification has revealed a matrix of migratory interchange among Eastern Australian and Oceania breeding areas (E and F), and this method can significantly contribute to the understanding of linkages between and within breeding and feeding areas and of humpback whale population structure in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans.
J. CETACEAN RES. MANAGE, 2017
Early 'Discovery mark' data together with recent photo-identification, acoustic, genetic and satellite-radio tag data revealed linkages between humpback whales migrating from breeding grounds (C) off East Africa and the Area III feeding area, from Western Australian breeding grounds (D) and the Antarctic Area IV feeding area and the East Australian breeding grounds (E1) and Antarctic Area V feeding area. These data also revealed low levels of intermingling between (E1) and (D) humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area consistent with these being separate populations. Greenpeace photographed the ventral tail flukes of 30 individual humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area (70°E–130°E) from 2 to 9 January 2008, between 62°47'S and 64°14'S latitude and 80°00'E and 112°57'E longitude. Comparisons of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace fluke catalogue (n = 30) with existing reconciled fluke catalogues from East Africa (n = 842), Western Australia (n = 1,558) and Eastern Australia (n = 1,964), yielded no photo-identification matches. An analysis of the frequencies of whales seen and not seen in Antarctica, East Africa, Western Australia and Eastern Australia relative to the frequencies expected to have been seen and not seen, based on the estimated population sizes and the sizes of the catalogues, provided evidence that the Antarctic whales photographed are from a different population to the East African and East Australian populations. There was weak evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Antarctic whales are from the Western Australian population but insufficient data were available to determine a clear outcome. A comparison of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace catalogue (n = 30) with other existing African, Indian Ocean, Western and Eastern Australian and/or Antarctic catalogues, together with increased sampling across the humpback whale feeding season in Antarctica and along the Western and Eastern Australian coastline during their winter migration, is likely to provide further evidence of the migratory destination of these humpback whales. It will also add to our limited knowledge of the extent of population overlap within the Antarctic Area III, IV and V feeding areas.