The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior

Underwater topography determines critical breeding habitat for humpback whales near Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica: implications for Marine Protected Areas

“…A Southern Humpback Whale population migrates north, along the southeast Pacific to the coasts of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica where they breed (Flóres González 1995, Félix and Haase 2001, Flóres González et al 2007. Two important feeding areas are the departure point of these whales; the Antarctic Peninsula and Chile's southern coast (Gibbons et al 2003, Stevick et al 2004, Acevedo et al 2007.…”

Marine mammals observations in the Gulf of Guayaquil on the south coast of Ecuador in May–June 2013

“…Annually, the southern population of Humpback Whales migrates to their breeding grounds in southeastern Pacifica, where they aggregate off the coasts of Ecuador, Columbia, and Panama (Dawbin, 1966;Scheidat et al, 2000;Félix & Haase, 2001;O'Hern et al, 2010). Humpback Whales are encountered off the coast of Ecuador from May till November, but their numbers usually peak in July and August (Félix & Haase, 2001.…”

“…Humpback Whales are encountered off the coast of Ecuador from May till November, but their numbers usually peak in July and August (Félix & Haase, 2001. It is within those time limits when the whales are usually observed in the vicinity of the Santa Clara Island; the animals stay at 25 to 60 m depths (mean depth 45.7 m; SD = 18.6) 20-30 km off shore .…”

Movements and Timing of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) Within the Breeding Region of the Eastern South Pacific

“…Eastern South Pacific humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) (Breeding Stock G, according to the International Whaling Commission [IWC], 1998) migrate from feeding grounds located mainly in the surroundings of the Antarctic Peninsula (Dalla and to a lesser extent in the Magellan Strait (Gibbons et al, 2003;Acevedo et al, 2006Acevedo et al, , 2013 and Golfo de Corcovado in southern Chile (HuckeGaete et al, 2013) to their breeding region off northern Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica (Flórez-González, 1991;Flórez-González et al, 1998;Félix & Haase, 2001;Rasmussen et al, 2007;Pacheco et al, 2009;Guidino et al, 2014;Guzmán et al, 2015). The connectivity between some feeding and breeding grounds has been demonstrated through photoidentification (Stone et al, 1990;Stevick et al, 2004;Acevedo et al, 2007;Rasmussen et al, 2007;Capella et al, 2008) and to a lesser extent with genetics (Caballero et al, 2001;Félix et al, 2012).…”

“…Thus, an apparent relationship would exist between whale abundance and latitude. Whale abundance peaks off Panama in August and September (Guzmán et al, 2015) and off Colombia in August (Flórez-González et al, 1998); while off Ecuador, it is reported in July (Scheidat et al, 2000;Félix & Haase, 2001). In northern Peru, the peak is observed towards the end of the breeding season in September and October (Pacheco et al, 2009;Santillán, 2011;Guidino et al, 2014).…”