Unreported catches, impact of whaling and current status of blue whales in the South European Atlantic Shelf.

ABSTRACT: The North Atlantic blue whale was depleted by modern whaling and it is still considered to be highly endangered. Despite its protection in 1954, catches continued in the South European Atlantic Shelf (SEAS) region and immediately adjacent waters until 1979. We compiled catches and investigate abundance trends in the region using original data from whaling (1921-1985) and scientific surveys around the last years of exploitation (1981-1987). The struck and lost rate was estimated at 3.2% for sperm whales and 2.3% for baleen whales. The compiled records include 60 catches, with an additional 1-2 blue whales likely struck and lost. From these, 29 individuals had been correctly reported as blue whales but 31 were mislabelled as fin whales. After correcting for loss rates, the number of blue wha

SUBMITTER: Aguilar A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8971400 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature