Spatial and temporal occurrence of blue whales off the U.S. West Coast, with implications for management.

ABSTRACT: Mortality and injuries caused by ship strikes in U.S. waters are a cause of concern for the endangered population of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) occupying the eastern North Pacific. We sought to determine which areas along the U.S. West Coast are most important to blue whales and whether those areas change inter-annually. Argos-monitored satellite tags were attached to 171 blue whales off California during summer/early fall from 1993 to 2008. We analyzed portions of the tracks that occurred within U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone waters and defined the 'home range' (HR) and 'core areas' (CAU) as the 90% and 50% fixed kernel density distributions, respectively, for each whale. We used the number of overlapping individual HRs and CAUs to identify areas of highest use. Individual HR and C

SUBMITTER: Irvine LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4108441 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature