Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Bluefin Tuna ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale

<i>Abstract</i> .—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 <i>Eubalaena glacialis</i> , bluefin tuna <i>Thunnus thynnus</i> , phalaropes (red-necked phalarope <i>Phalaropus lobatus </i> and red phalarope <i>P. fulicaria</i> ), and sandpipers <i>Calidris </i> spp., are flagships for many more species for which the Gulf of Maine plays an irreplaceable part in the annual cycle.

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

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 687-708 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals The Painful Side of Trap and Fixed Net Fisheries: Chronic Entanglement of Large Whales

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Moore ◽  
Julie M. van der Hoop
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale ◽  
The North ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Population Sustainability ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Severe Tissue

Concern over the well-being of marine mammals at sea has focused on intentional harvests, both in terms of individual welfare and population sustainability. Unintentional mortalities from fishing gear entanglement are primarily seen as a risk to population viability. Additionally, larger whales breaking free of, and subsequently carrying, fixed trap and net gear are subject to a very slow demise, averaging 6 months in the case of the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Chronic cases can involve impaired foraging, increased drag, infection, hemorrhage, and severe tissue damage. The individual suffering of these cases appears to be extreme. Thus management measures should go beyond legally mandated conservation measures to include avoidance of such scenarios. Seafood consumers could succeed, where laws have failed, to demand fishing practices that do not kill whales in this manner. The effective absence of such demands would seem to reflect the cryptic nature of these cases to most consumers.

Analysis of fecal glucocorticoids in the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)

2006 ◽  
Vol 148 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen E. Hunt ◽  
Rosalind M. Rolland ◽  
Scott D. Kraus ◽  
Samuel K. Wasser
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Atlantic ◽  
Fecal Glucocorticoids

Fishing-gear threat to right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in Canadian waters and the risk of lethal entanglement

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2174-2193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelia S.M. Vanderlaan ◽  
R. Kent Smedbol ◽  
Christopher T. Taggart
Keyword(s):  
Relative Risk ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Commercial Fishing ◽  
Fishing Gear ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale ◽  
Right Whales

Commercial fishing gear can potentially entangle any whale, and this is especially true for the endangered North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ), for which entanglement is second only to vessel strike as being responsible for documented right whale deaths. We use right whale survey data and Canadian fishing-gear deployment data to estimate the relative threat of gear entanglement in a Scotia–Fundy study area and the relative risk of lethal entanglement in the Bay of Fundy and on Roseway Basin, Scotian Shelf, where Critical Habitat has been legislated. We focus on groundfish and pelagic hook-and-line; groundfish gillnet; and crab-, hagfish-, and inshore and offshore lobster-trap gear. Our analyses demonstrate that groundfish hook-and-line gear poses the greatest threat to right whales among the seven gear types analysed during the summer-resident period in Critical Habitat and that gear from the lobster fisheries poses the greatest threat during the spring and autumn periods when whales are migrating to and from Critical Habitat. We suggest that area-specific seasonal closures of some fisheries would reduce threat and risk to whales without unduly compromising fishing interests.

Observations of a western North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) birth offshore of the protected southeast U.S. critical habitat

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. E234-E240 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. J. Foley ◽  
R. C. Holt ◽  
R. E. Hardee ◽  
P. B. Nilsson ◽  
K. A. Jackson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
Critical Habitat ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale

SEASONAL OCCURRENCE OF NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE (EUBALAENA GLACIALIS) VOCALIZATIONS AT TWO SITES ON THE SCOTIAN SHELF

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 856-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Mellinger ◽  
Sharon L. Nieukirk ◽  
Haru Matsumoto ◽  
Sara L. Heimlich ◽  
Robert P. Dziak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Seasonal Occurrence ◽  
Eubalaena Glacialis ◽  
Scotian Shelf ◽  
North Atlantic Right Whale ◽  
Right Whale
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