Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics.
Passive acoustic data sets along the Western Australian coast have revealed annual southnorth migrations of pygmy blue whales. At the latitude of Exmouth (21o 30’ S) a sharp southerly travelling pulse of pygmy blue whales is experienced each year over October to late December, while a more protr...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Report |
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International Whaling Commission
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80310 |
| _version_ | 1848764195087056896 |
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| author | McCauley, Robert Jenner, Curt |
| author_facet | McCauley, Robert Jenner, Curt |
| author_sort | McCauley, Robert |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Passive acoustic data sets along the Western Australian coast have revealed annual southnorth migrations of pygmy blue whales. At the latitude of Exmouth (21o
30’ S) a sharp
southerly travelling pulse of pygmy blue whales is experienced each year over October to late
December, while a more protracted northerly pulse of returning animals is detected over the
following April to August. It is believed the south bound pulse of animals passing Exmouth are steadily migrating. The passive acoustic detections of pygmy blue whales off Exmouth
have been converted to instantaneous counts of the number of individual whales calling. By
assuming a range of proportions of animals calling of from 8.5-20% of total pygmy blue
whales in the area, the number of individual whales calling has been converted to estimates of
the number of whales in the noise logger listening area, at 15 minute increments across the
southerly migratory pulse. This curve was integrated across the migratory season. The
listening range of the noise logger and the whale swim speed along a known route were used
to give whale residency time in the noise logger listening area. The integrated curve of
whale days was divided by the residency time to give an estimate of 662-1559 pygmy blue
whales passing the noise logger site during the 2004 southerly migratory pulse down the
Western Australian coast. We know pygmy blue whales reside along the east Australian coast
and in the southern Indian Ocean, thus the population estimate for Western Australia is a
portion of the larger Indian and western Pacific pygmy blue whale population. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:29Z |
| format | Report |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-80310 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:15:29Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | International Whaling Commission |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-803102020-10-21T01:10:32Z Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. McCauley, Robert Jenner, Curt pygmy blue whale population Yes Passive acoustic data sets along the Western Australian coast have revealed annual southnorth migrations of pygmy blue whales. At the latitude of Exmouth (21o 30’ S) a sharp southerly travelling pulse of pygmy blue whales is experienced each year over October to late December, while a more protracted northerly pulse of returning animals is detected over the following April to August. It is believed the south bound pulse of animals passing Exmouth are steadily migrating. The passive acoustic detections of pygmy blue whales off Exmouth have been converted to instantaneous counts of the number of individual whales calling. By assuming a range of proportions of animals calling of from 8.5-20% of total pygmy blue whales in the area, the number of individual whales calling has been converted to estimates of the number of whales in the noise logger listening area, at 15 minute increments across the southerly migratory pulse. This curve was integrated across the migratory season. The listening range of the noise logger and the whale swim speed along a known route were used to give whale residency time in the noise logger listening area. The integrated curve of whale days was divided by the residency time to give an estimate of 662-1559 pygmy blue whales passing the noise logger site during the 2004 southerly migratory pulse down the Western Australian coast. We know pygmy blue whales reside along the east Australian coast and in the southern Indian Ocean, thus the population estimate for Western Australia is a portion of the larger Indian and western Pacific pygmy blue whale population. 2010 Report http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80310 International Whaling Commission fulltext |
| spellingShingle | pygmy blue whale population Yes McCauley, Robert Jenner, Curt Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title | Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title_full | Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title_fullStr | Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title_short | Migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the Western Australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| title_sort | migratory patterns and estimated population size of pygmy blue whales (balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) traversing the western australian coast based on passive acoustics. |
| topic | pygmy blue whale population Yes |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80310 |