Abstract
Gunshot call production by the North Pacific right whale Eubalaena japonica in the southeastern Bering Sea
Highlights
North Pacific right whales Eubalaena japonica were extensively hunted by sail-based ‘Yankee’ whalers beginning in 1835, and an estimated 26 000 to 37 000 whales were killed within 2 decades (Scarff 2001)
Nine focal follows (FFs) were the result of first visually sighting the animal without acoustic cues, while 14 were the result of locating the animal via calls localized from Directional Frequency Analysis and Recording (DiFAR) sonobuoys
The results presented in this study definitively attribute gunshots to North Pacific right whales Eubalaena japonica (NPRW)
Summary
North Pacific right whales Eubalaena japonica were extensively hunted by sail-based ‘Yankee’ whalers beginning in 1835, and an estimated 26 000 to 37 000 whales (ca. 80% of the population) were killed within 2 decades (Scarff 2001). Variations of down-up calls, and tonal calls have been attributed to NPRW (McDonald & Moore 2002, Mellinger 2004, Munger et al 2005), the full acoustic repertoire has yet to be described for this species. Upcalls have been frequently used in auto-detection analyses, and have been the default call type for past NPRW studies (McDonald & Moore 2002, Waite et al 2003, Mellinger et al 2004, 2007, Wiggins et al 2004, Munger et al 2005, 2008, 2011, Urazghildiiev & Clark 2007, Marques et al 2011). On a dedicated NPRW survey in the SEBS in 2008, gunshots dominated the acoustic recordings, making it clear that this call type needed further investigation within this population
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