Biologically Important Areas II for cetaceans within U.S. and adjacent waters - West Coast Region

Abstract

Here we update U.S. West Coast Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) that were published in 2015 using new data and approaches. Additionally, BIAs were delineated for two species that were not delineated in the 2015 BIAs: fin whales and Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW). While harbor porpoise BIAs remained the same, substantial changes were made for other species including identifying both larger overall areas (parent BIAs) and smaller core areas (child BIAs). For blue, fin, and humpback whales we identified, delineated, and scored BIAs using the overlap between the distribution and relative density from three data sources, leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches: 1) habitat density models based on Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) line-transect data from systematic ship surveys conducted through 2018, 2) satellite tag data from deployments conducted by three research groups, and 3) sightings of feeding behavior from non-systematic effort mostly associated with small-boat surveys for photo-identification conducted by Cascadia Research Collective. While the previous BIAs were based solely on a more subjective assignment from only the small boat sightings, here we incorporate the other two data sources and use a more rigorous, quantitative approach to identify higher density areas and integrate the data types. This resulted in larger, better-supported, objective BIAs compared to the previous effort. Our methods are also more consistent with the delineation of BIAs in other regions. For SRKWs, the parent BIA was based on a modification of the Critical Habitat boundaries defined by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada; a core BIA highlighting areas of intensified use was identified using both NOAA’s Critical Habitat and kernel density analyses of satellite tag data. Gray whale BIAs were re-evaluated for the migratory corridor of Eastern North Pacific gray whales, for Pacific Coast Feeding Group feeding areas, and for gray whales that feed regularly in Puget Sound.

Utilizing long-term opportunistic sightings records to document spatio-temporal shifts in mysticete presence and use in the Central Salish Sea

“…The high concentration of gray whale sightings NPS since reflects the seasonally resident 'Sounders' within the Whidbey Basin which were first documented in 1990 (Weitkamp et al, 1992;Calambokidis et al, 2002Calambokidis et al, , 2015Clayton et al, 2023;Calambokidis et al, 2024). Increases in gray whale sightings after the 1989 and 2017 change point align well with both the discovery and recruitment of new individuals to this seasonally resident group, which nearly doubled in size in -2019.…”