Occurrence, distribution and abundance of cetaceans off the western Eyre Peninsula in the Great Australian Bight
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Date
2017-11-10
Authors
Bilgmann, Kerstin
Parra, Guido Jose
Moller, Luciana Marta
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Rights
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Rights Holder
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd.
Abstract
This study provides the first assessment of the occurrence, distribution and abundance of cetaceans in shelf and coastal waters off the western Eyre Peninsula, eastern Great Australian Bight, South Australia. We undertook aerial line transect surveys to estimate the abundance of common dolphins, and to assess the occurrence and distribution of other small and large cetaceans. Two along shore surveys were also flown to assess occurrence of endangered southern right whales in coastal waters. Five cetacean species were detected: seven southern right whales, three humpback whales, one minke whale (unknown species), 71 schools of common dolphins, and 14 schools of bottlenose dolphins. Abundance of common dolphins was estimated to be 20,000–22,000 using distance sampling methods with densities of 0.67–0.73 dolphin/km2. Comparisons of common dolphin densities off the Eyre Peninsula in the eastern GAB with other regions around the world show that shelf waters off the Eyre Peninsula represent an important habitat for common dolphins.
Description
This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (November 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy
Keywords
Marine ecology, Conservation, Coastal waters, Continental shelves, Biodiversity, Aerial survey, Distance sampling, Dolphin, Whale
Citation
Bilgmann, K., Parra, G. J., & Möller, L. M. (2017). Occurrence, distribution and abundance of cetaceans off the western Eyre Peninsula in the Great Australian Bight. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. DOI:10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.11.006