Sighting of the fin whale in the Eastern Subtropical South Pacific: Potential breeding ground?

Abstract

Here we report a sighting of a large school of fin whales on 30th May 2010 approximately 2,810 km west of the continental coast of Chile (21°27'S, 97°34'W). This sighting supports the limited available information that fin whales migrate to Sub-tropical open ocean waters during the austral autumn-winter. Given the accepted migration pattern of fin whales, reproducing at low latitudes from April or May, we suggest that the geographic location of our sighting could correspond to, or be near to, a breeding ground for this species in the South Pacific.