An integrated approach to historical population assessment of the great whales: case of the New Zealand southern right whale.

ABSTRACT: Accurate estimation of historical abundance provides an essential baseline for judging the recovery of the great whales. This is particularly challenging for whales hunted prior to twentieth century modern whaling, as population-level catch records are often incomplete. Assessments of whale recovery using pre-modern exploitation indices are therefore rare, despite the intensive, global nature of nineteenth century whaling. Right whales (Eubalaena spp.) were particularly exploited: slow swimmers with strong fidelity to sheltered calving bays, the species made predictable and easy targets. Here, we present the first integrated population-level assessment of the whaling impact and pre-exploitation abundance of a right whale, the New Zealand southern right whale (E. australis). In this assessm

SUBMITTER: Jackson JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4821268 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature