Long‐term photo‐identification study of fin whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary (NW Mediterranean) as a baseline for targeted conservation and mitigation measures

Autor: Margherita Zanardelli, Sabina Airoldi, Martine Bérubé, J. Fabrizio Borsani, Nathalie Di‐Meglio, Alexandre Gannier, Philip S. Hammond, Maddalena Jahoda, Giancarlo Lauriano, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Simone Panigada
Přispěvatelé: Palsbøll lab
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 32(9), 1457-1470. Wiley
ISSN: 1052-7613
Popis: 1. Historical abundance estimates are important for establishing baselines fromwhich trends can be determined using more recent data. Long-term studies basedon photo-identification were merged and used to estimate population size,survival rate and sex ratio (biopsy sampling) of fin whales in the North-westernMediterranean.2. Merging four existing photo-id catalogues yielded a Mediterranean cataloguewith 507 individually identified fin whales. Ninety-five (18.7%) individuals wereresighted at least once during the study period (1990–2007): 71 whales wereresighted in different years, 24 within the same season and 13 both in the sameseason and in different years. The number of resightings within-season rangedfrom one to four, over periods from 1 to 90 days.3. Capture histories from these individuals were used in the capture–recaptureanalyses. Estimates of the animals present in the area each year between 1991and 1995 through different modelling approaches were consistent: 900–1,000from a POPAN open population model; 1,200 from a multi-sample closedpopulation model; and 900–1,100 from simple two-sample closed populationmodels for pairs of consecutive years, all with heavily overlapping 95%confidence intervals.4. The estimated apparent survival rate of 0.916 (95% CI=0.773–0.972) was lowerthan expected, which may be linked to temporary or permanent emigration, ormortality possibly owing to ship strikes.5. Conservation and mitigation measures such as Important Marine Mammal Areasand Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas are presented and discussed.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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