Right Whale Diving and Foraging Behavior in the Southwestern Gulf of Maine

Temperature, salinity, density of Zooplankton patches, and the abundance of right whales (Eubalaena glacialis glacialis) were measured concurrently during summer and autumn of 1983 and 1984 over the Grand Manan Basin, outer Bay of Fundy. Right whales appeared to exploit patches of copepods at densities greater than about 820/m3 (170 mg m−3). Patches were composed primarily of stage V Calanus finmarchicus at depths ≥ 100 m during daylight hours. Patch densities were similar in 1983 and 1984. Potential right whale feeding areas increased in extent from late July to October, with at least two peaks of copepod biomass occurring in 1984. Right whales appear to exploit euphausiid patches in the bay only incidentally; the whales departed in 1984 when euphausiid biomass was at a maximum. The topography of the basin, prevailing summer currents, and orientation of transition zones from mixed to stratified water all combine to facilitate accumulation of copepods from the Scotian Shelf and Gulf of Maine in the central lower Bay of Fundy. This area provides an important feeding ground for this stenophagous whale species.

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Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine ◽

10.47886/9781934874301.ch22 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Annual Cycle ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Bluefin Tuna ◽

Ecosystem Approach ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Eubalaena Glacialis ◽

Long Distance ◽

North Atlantic Right Whale ◽

Right Whale

Abstract .—An ecosystem-based framework for managing the Gulf of Maine ecosystem needs to include the long-distance migrant species that use the system for only a part of their annual cycle. The numbers of cetaceans and seabirds in this category greatly outnumber those that breed within the gulf and risk being neglected in any framework that does not consider them explicitly. I review the role of the gulf in the life cycles of five species of cetacean, 18 seabirds or shorebirds, and five species of fish; the familiar iconic species, such as North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis , bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus , phalaropes (red-necked phalarope Phalaropus lobatus and red phalarope P. fulicaria ), and sandpipers Calidris spp., are flagships for many more species for which the Gulf of Maine plays an irreplaceable part in the annual cycle.

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North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and its food: (II) interannual variations in biomass of Calanus spp. on western North Atlantic shelves

Journal of Plankton Research ◽

10.1093/plankt/fbz044 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 687-708 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kevin A Sorochan ◽

StÉphane Plourde ◽

Ryan Morse ◽

Pierre Pepin ◽

Jeffrey Runge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Calanus Finmarchicus ◽

Eubalaena Glacialis ◽

Ocean Temperature ◽

Range Limit ◽

North Atlantic Right Whale ◽

Near Surface ◽

Right Whale ◽

Lower Biomass

Abstract The North Atlantic right whale (NARW), Eubalaena glacialis, feeds on zooplankton, particularly copepods of the genus Calanus. We quantified interannual variation in anomalies of abundance and biomass of Calanus spp. and near-surface and near-bottom ocean temperature and salinity from 19 subregions spanning the Gulf of Maine–Georges Bank (GoM–GBK), Scotian Shelf (SS), Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) and Newfoundland and Labrador Shelves. We analyzed time series from 1977 to 2016 in GoM–GBK, 1982 to 2016 in southwest GSL and 1999 to 2016 in remaining areas. Calanus finmarchicus dominated abundance and biomass, except in the GSL where Calanus hyperboreus was abundant. The biomass of Calanus spp. declined in many subregions over years 1999–2016 and was negatively correlated with sea surface temperature in GoM–GBK and on the SS. We detected ``regime shifts” to lower biomass of Calanus spp. in the GoM–GBK in 2010 and on the SS in 2011. In the GoM–GBK, shifts to lower biomass of C. finmarchicus coincided with shifts to warmer ocean temperature and with published reports of changes in spatial distribution and reduced calving rate of NARW. We hypothesize that warming has negatively impacted population levels of Calanus spp. near their southern range limit, reducing the availability of prey to NARW.

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On the Right Way to Right Whale Protections in the Gulf of Maine—Case Study

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy ◽

10.1080/13880292.2013.805065 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 229-265 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John Duff ◽

Hannah Dean ◽

Tsafrir Gazit ◽

Christopher T. Taggart ◽

Jennifer H. Cavanagh

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Right Whale ◽

The Right

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Ocean Regime Shift is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population

Oceanography ◽

10.5670/oceanog.2021.308 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 22-31

Author(s):

Erin Meyer-Gutbrod ◽

◽

Charles Greene ◽

Kimberley Davies ◽

David Johns

Keyword(s):

North Atlantic ◽

Regime Shift ◽

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Scotian Shelf ◽

North Atlantic Right Whale ◽

Right Whale ◽

The North ◽

Right Whales ◽

The North Atlantic ◽

Foraging Environment

Ocean warming linked to anthropogenic climate change is impacting the ecology of marine species around the world. In 2010, the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf regions of the Northwest Atlantic underwent an unprecedented regime shift. Forced by climate-driven changes in the Gulf Stream, warm slope waters entered the region and created a less favorable foraging environment for the endangered North Atlantic right whale population. By mid-decade, right whales had shifted their late spring/summer foraging grounds from the Gulf of Maine and the western Scotian Shelf to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The population also began exhibiting unusually high mortality in 2017. Here, we report that climate-driven changes in ocean circulation have altered the foraging environment and habitat use of right whales, reducing the population’s calving rate and exposing it to greater mortality risks from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. The case of the North Atlantic right whale provides a cautionary tale for the management of protected species in a changing ocean.

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Anomalous 1992 spring and summer right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) distributions in the Gulf of Maine

J. Cetacean Res. Manage. ◽

10.47536/jcrm.vi.287 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 209-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robert D. Kenney

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Maine ◽

Late Summer ◽

The Philippines ◽

Early Summer ◽

Calanus Finmarchicus ◽

Small Scale ◽

First Year ◽

Eubalaena Glacialis ◽

Right Whale ◽

Right Whales

No right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) were sighted during aerial surveys in May-July 1992 in the Great South Channel region of thesouthwestern Gulf of Maine. This was the first year that spring surveys failed to detect right whales in this region. During the latespring/early summer season when right whales would normally be expected in the Great South Channel, a few were sighted in the centralGulf of Maine, none were found in their usual late summer/early autumn feeding areas near Nova Scotia and a few were seen inMassachusetts Bay. The absence of right whales in the Great South Channel in 1992 can be attributed to a shift in the regional zooplanktoncommunity. The usual spring zooplankton of the region is strongly dominated by the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus, verticallyand horizontally aggregated into dense patches which are the preferred foraging areas of right whales. The 1992 zooplankton was dominatedby pteropods, distributed evenly throughout the water column. It is possible, although unlikely, that pteropods are unacceptable prey forright whales. A more likely explanation is that their local densities within small-scale patches were below the energetic threshold requiredfor successful right whale feeding. The shift in zooplankton dominance in 1992 is likely related to significantly reduced water temperaturesand a delay in the development of the usual hydrographic structure of the region. The 1992 temperature and hydrographic anomalies, inturn, can be attributed principally to an unusually large influx of colder and fresher Scotian Shelf Water, and may have been enhanced bywidespread cooling of the Northern Hemisphere caused by sulphuric acid haze in the atmosphere from the June 1991 eruption of Pinatubovolcano in the Philippines.

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