Research Results
The Whales of Southern California project is new extension of our Whales of British Columbia project. Earthwatch scientists have achieved interesting results in British Columbia and are excited to be expanding their project.
The Whales of British Columbia:
From 1994 to 2008, a total of 126 grey whale individuals were identified in the waters near Cape Caution - approximately a third of which were seen regularly (i.e. during almost every field season). Grey whale distribution and abundance in Canadian waters was well-known and predictable each summer until 2004, when their status appeared to change with a quantifiable shift in foraging behavior. The Earthwatch scientists hypothesize that this was due to a decline in traditional prey resources, encouraging whales to become opportunistic and exploit new areas and food resources, rather than relying on the long-established feeding areas indentified in the initial years of the research. Historically, mysid prey were recorded in the research area in spatially and temporally stable swarms, which were large and extremely dense, with a mean abundance of 440,000 per m³. However, in 2005 and 2006, the mysid “crop” failed and the whales did not return to their usual grounds. In 2007, the mysids started to reappear and, by the end of the season, whales had returned. In 2008 the situation improved further, as the mysid population boomed again, Holmsimysis sculpta returned as the dominant mysid species and grey whale was resident again for extended periods.
Earthwatch research is providing essential data, and through the scientists’ network and links with the US National Marine Fisheries
Service and the Province of BC, the information is getting to the right places. The results are now being incorporated into international management plans drawn up by the Canadian and American governments for the grey whale in the northeast Pacific.
Related publications include:
Laskin, D.N., Duffus, D.A. & Bender, D.J. (2010) Mysteries of the not so deep: An investigation into gray whale habitat use along the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In: Breman, J. (Ed.) Ocean Globe. ESRI Press Academic, Redlands, California, USA.
Nelson, T.A., Duffus, D.A., Robertson, C., Laberee, K., Feyrer, L.J. (2009) Spatial-temporal analysis of marine wildlife. Journal of Coastal Research (Special Issue), 56: 1537-1541.
Stelle, L.L., Megill, W.M. & Kinzel, M.R. (2008) Activity budgets and diving behavior of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in feeding grounds off coastal
British Columbia. Marine Mammal Science, 24 (3): 462 - 478.