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MAR 370 > Conservation Case Study II: Large Whales > Flashcards

Conservation Case Study II: Large Whales Flashcards

1
Q

What were the primary products of early whaling?

A
  • Oil (blubber)
  • Candles (spermaceti)
  • Baleen
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2
Q

What were some limitations of early whaling

A
  • People!
  • People were limited by how far they could travel because of lack of technology
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3
Q

Describe modern whaling

A
  • 1864: Invention of the grenade / harpoon
  • Use of powered vessels
  • 1904: initiation of Antarctic whaling
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4
Q

What happened to whale stocks as a result of the technological advancements of modern whaling?

A
  • Rapid depletion of whale stocks
  • First Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (1931)
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5
Q

What is the ICRW?

A
  • The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
  • The purpose was to facilitate the conservation of whale stocks (for fishing purposes) BUT was not established for the conservation of whales themselves
  • Predecessor of the International Whale Commission
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6
Q

How was the profitability of a whale species assessed?

A
  • Blue Whale Units (BWU)
  • BWU measure the amount of oil produced by each species
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7
Q

Describe the Moratorium

A
  • Adopted in 1982 by the IWC
  • Under the the moratorium permits can be issued to take whales for “science”
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8
Q

Describe Japan’s Special Permit Research Program

A

Most likely used as a ploy to continue illegally harvesting whales

  1. Research is irrelevant to the work of the IWC
  2. There are no testable hypotheses
  3. Much of the work does not require lethal sampling (but they do it anyways)
  4. The number of whales taken exceeds the number specified by the RMP
  5. There is no external peer-review
  6. The programs produce few, if any peer-reviewed publications
    2014 Japan was taken to the international court of Justice
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9
Q

Where did the North Atlantic Right Whale get its name from?

A

Right whales were considered the “right whales” to kill because:
- They are fat
- Produce lots of oil
- Located near the surface
- Easy to catch

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10
Q

What is the current status of the North Atlantic Right Whale

A
  • Declining survival rates
  • Calving interval = 3-5 yrs (highly variable)
  • Expected extinction in 200 yrs
  • PBR = 0 (stock is always strategic)
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11
Q

Describe the foraging ecology of Right Whales

A
  • Right Whales collect prey with long plates of baleen
  • Skim feed at the surface and at depths up to 350m
  • Consume up to 750 kg of food in a day
  • Preferred prey species is Calanus Fimarchicus
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12
Q

How were Right Whale exploited in the past?

A
  • Basque Whalers in the Bay of Biscay from 1300s-1700s had approximatley 15 ships and 600 men per whaling season
  • Whaling = widespread along the US coast and Africa in 1700s-1800s
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13
Q

What has a large impact on whale distribution?

A

Target prey species

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14
Q

What are some major threats facing large whales?

A
  • Vessel strikes
  • Entanglement in fishing gear
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15
Q

Vessel strikes

A
  • Being hit by ships
  • Can cause mortality or serious injury (including hemorrhaging and bone fracture)
  • Major source of mortality for large whales
  • Large ships are though to be primarily responsible for most large whale mortalities / serious injury
  • Whales are often not observed prior to or after impact
    Many mortalities do not get detected
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16
Q

When is mortality by vessel strike more likely?

A
  • When vessels are travelling fast
  • In regions where there is higher vessel traffic
17
Q

What can influence the risk of vessel strikes?

A
  • Behavior
  • Foraging
  • Resting in shallow depths
  • Juveniles = a high proportion of lethal vessel strikes
18
Q

Describe entanglement in fishing gear

A
  • Can cause drowning if whale is entangled at depth
  • Can cause long-term injury or mortality
  • Can be acute or chronic
19
Q

Describe acute entanglement in fishing gear

A

Getting tangles below the surface / drowning

20
Q

Describe chronic entanglement in fishing gear

A
  • Fishing gear remains attached for an extended period of time
  • Feeding efficiency can be decreased / increased drag
  • Whales can become emaciated
  • Can lead to infection or severe tissue damage
21
Q

What types of fishing gear are large whales commonly entangled in?

A
  • Lobster / crab pots / traps
  • Gill nets
    These are a primary concern for North Atlantic Right Whales
22
Q

What are some mitigation measures that have been taken to reduce Right Whale mortality?

A
  • Movement of shipping lanes in the Bay of Fundy
  • Establishment of seasonal management areas: vessels > 65” must travel < 10 knots within these areas (this requirement varies seasonally based on Right Whale migrations)
  • Weak fishing lines that will break under enough pressure
  • Ropeless / on demand fishing gear (this is complex and expensive)
23
Q

Is it true that the increase in large whale strandings over the last few years can be linked to the development of OWF

A
  • No!
  • When strandings began to increase offshore wind development had not yet started
  • Research shows that patterns of strandings do NOT align with construction of wind turbines over space or time
24
Q

Describe marine mammal strandings data

A
  • Coordinated under title IV of the MMPA
  • Conducts annual mortality and serious injury assessments
  • Allows patterns in strandings to be assessed quantitatively
25
Q

How has increased vessel traffic in NY and Virginia affected humpback whale populations in these areas?

A
  • There has been an ongoing UME since 2016
  • Vessel strikes and entanglements are the major threats facing large whales globally
  • MSI due to vessel strikes increased 3 fold during UME
  • This is most likely attributed to the increases in vessel traffic in these areas
26
Q

How has humpback whale habitat use changed in recent years and how could this potentially contribute to the increases in MSI?

A
  • Increases in strandings coincide with increases in Atlantic menhaden
  • Juvenile whales have been surface feeding in inshore waters of NY and VA (increased shipping traffic)

MAR 370 (14 decks)

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