Crowdsourcing Modern and Historical Data Identifies Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Habitat Offshore of South-Western Australia

Johnson, Christopher M.; Beckley, L.E.; Kobryn, H.; Johnson, Genevieve; Kerr, Iain; Payne, Roger

doi:10.3389/fmars.2016.00167

Cited by 12 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…These congruent spatial patterns suggest a potential common basis to hotspot formation across multiple taxa (Bouchet et al, ). Higher relative abundance was also inferred at a number of discrete sites, confirming their importance to marine megafauna (Supporting Information Appendix S2, Figure S8); these included the seasonally productive Bremer basin, a foraging ground for white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias ) and killer whales ( Orcinus orca ), the Albany canyon group, a favourable habitat for sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ; Johnson et al, ), the Recherche Archipelago, the Rowley Shoals, the Ashmore, Scott, Cartier and Ningaloo reefs (Sleeman et al, ) and, to a lesser degree, the waters off Dirk Hartog Island (Letessier et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Continental‐scale hotspots of pelagic fish abundance inferred from commercial catch records

Bouchet

Meeuwig

Huang

et al. 2017

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Protected areas have become pivotal to the modern conservation planning toolbox, but a limited understanding of marine macroecology is hampering their efficient design and implementation in pelagic environments. We explored the respective contributions of environmental factors and human impacts in capturing the distribution of an assemblage of commercially valuable, large‐bodied, open‐water predators (tunas, marlins and mackerels). Location Western Australia. Time period 1997–2006. Major taxa studied Pelagic fishes. Methods We compiled 10 years of commercial fishing records from the Sea Around Us Project and derived relative abundance indices from standardized catch rates while accounting for confounding effects of effort, year and gear type. We used these indices to map pelagic hotspots over a 0.5°‐resolution grid and built random forests to estimate the importance of 33 geophysical, oceanographic and anthropogenic predictors in explaining their locations. We additionally examined the spatial congruence between these hotspots and an extensive network of marine reserves and determined whether patterns of co‐occurrence deviated from random expectations using null model simulations. Results First, we identified several pelagic hotspots off the coast of Western Australia. Second, geomorphometrics explained up to 50% of the variance in relative abundance of pelagic fishes, and submarine canyon presence ranked as the most influential variable in the North bioregion. Seafloor complexity, geodiversity, salinity, temperature variability, primary production, ocean energy, current regimes and human impacts were also identified as important predictors. Third, spatial overlap between hotspots and marine reserves was limited, with most high‐abundance areas primarily found in zones where anthropogenic activities are subject to few regulations. Main conclusions This study reveals geomorphometrics as valuable indicators of the distribution of mobile fish species and highlights the relevance of harnessing static topography as a key element in any blueprint for ocean zoning and spatial management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Continental‐scale hotspots of pelagic fish abundance inferred from commercial catch records

Bouchet

Meeuwig

Huang

et al. 2017

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…We observed strong year-to-year variability in seasonality of detections, such that long-term seasonal trends may be obscured in data sets that span no more than 2 or 3 yr. Two other sources of sperm whale data, historic whaling records and modern visual observations, do sometimes span many years and have revealed multiple locations where sperm whales are found yearround (e.g. Clarke 1957, Oshumi 1966, Kasuya & Miyashita 1988, White head 2003, Jochens et al 2008, Smith et al 2012, Johnson et al 2016; however, despite the longer duration, these data sets also lack the power to detect seasonal trends due to the difficulty of sampling in rough, winter weather. The seasonality re ported in the current study may be associated with geographic shifts in the population or changes in the composition of the population that have previously gone undetected due to sampling designs that would have had little power to detect a seasonal signal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The seasonal patterns we observed in sperm whale acoustic activity may be connected to the demographic composition of sperm whale populations in the region. Males are believed to move between lower and higher latitudes throughout adulthood (Whitehead 2003), and movements of males and females in the North Pacific have been shown with Discovery and satellite tags to be on the scale of hundreds to thousands of kilometers (Jochens et al 2008, Mizroch & Rice 2013, Straley et al 2014, Baird 2016. The seasonal pattern of sperm whale detections shown here suggests seasonal movement of sperm whales on this same temporal and spatial scale.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic and temporal patterns in the acoustic detection of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus in the central and western North Pacific Ocean

Merkens¹,

Simonis²,

Oleson³

2019

Endang. Species. Res.

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The easily identifiable, high-amplitude echolocation signals produced by sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus make the species ideal for long-term passive acoustic monitoring. Sperm whale signals were manually identified in the recordings from high-frequency acoustic recording packages monitoring 13 deep-water locations across the central and western North Pacific Ocean from 2005 to 2013, constituting the longest passive acoustic study of sperm whales to date. The species was detected at all of the sites, with the highest detection rate at Ladd Seamount (>18% of analyzed periods) and the lowest rates at equatorial sites (<1% of analyzed periods). Generalized additive models and generalized estimating equations were used to produce explanatory models to assess temporal and geographic patterns. The model variables included diel phase, lunar day, day of the year, year, and site. The site-specific variability in detection rates was high across the North Pacific, but there were also common patterns, including a seasonal trend, with decreased detections during the summer or fall, and a diel trend, with increased detections at night. There appeared to be a seasonal movement pattern, with minimum detection rates occurring later in the year at more northerly sites. The nocturnal pattern was seen across all data sets but was not strong at equatorial locations. Although lunar cycles were important at many sites, there was no consistent trend at any spatial scale. Overall, this analysis confirms the broad distribution of sperm whales across the North Pacific and highlights the subtle temporal patterns in their acoustic activity, which may be related to shifts in animal behavior or movement.

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“…Samples of stomach contents, muscle and fat tissue are primarily acquired from bycatch or stranded animals (Pierce & Boyle 1991), but also from hunted animals during commercial whaling (e.g. Olsen & Holt 2001, Johnson et al 2016, aboriginal subsistence (e.g. Castellini 2000) or 'scientific ' (e.g.…”

Section: Spatial Temporal and Resource Overlap As Indicators Of Marimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Castellini 2000) or 'scientific ' (e.g. Folkow et al 2000, Haug et al 2010, Konishi et al 2014, Johnson et al 2016 whaling. It is important to note that dietary contents can significantly differ depending upon the origin of the sample (see Evans et al 2003, Hernandez-Milian et al 2015.…”

Section: Spatial Temporal and Resource Overlap As Indicators Of Marimentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between marine mammals and fisheries in contemporary harvested marine ecosystems

Saavedra

Kuparinen²

2019

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Competitive interactions between marine mammals and fisheries represents one of the most complex challenges in marine resource management worldwide. The development of commercial fisheries and recovering marine mammal populations have contributed to decreasing of fish availability. Whilst ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) can counteract this decrease, achieving the EBFM objectives faces certain major obstacles including insufficient or unreliable data, inapplicable assessment models as well as inadequate management decisions that do not account for fisheriesinduced morphological alterations (FIMA) and marine mammal management. Despite a body of evidence addressing various aspects of marine mammal-fisheries competition, little is known about the effects of marine mammal-fisheries biological interactions affecting the fish viability and food web stability. Here, we review the research done on marine mammal-fisheries competitive biological interactions (hereafter as 'biological competition') by focussing on: (1) the prerequisites for marine mammal-fisheries biological competition and the relevant methodologies to explore them and (2) recent studies revealing the implications of FIMA and trophic interactions for the biological competition. We also discuss on the implications of FIMA, eco-evolutionary feedback and preypredator dynamics for EBFM implementation in contemporary harvested ecosystems. Our main findings reveal a lack of data about marine mammals' prey choice and selectivity, the need for better representation of marine mammals in modelling approaches and lastly, the necessity for additional research linking FIMA, trophic interactions and the EBFM objectives. To conclude, interdisciplinary approaches may serve to link all of the efforts needed to effectively and holistically support the implementation of EBFM.

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Crowdsourcing Modern and Historical Data Identifies Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Habitat Offshore of South-Western Australia

Cited by 12 publications

References 68 publications

Continental‐scale hotspots of pelagic fish abundance inferred from commercial catch records

Continental‐scale hotspots of pelagic fish abundance inferred from commercial catch records

Geographic and temporal patterns in the acoustic detection of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus in the central and western North Pacific Ocean

Competition between marine mammals and fisheries in contemporary harvested marine ecosystems

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