Blue Whale Utilization Distribution, California Current

Jul 7, 2017 (Last modified Sep 14, 2017)
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Dataset was used in a scientifically peer-reviewed publication
Description:
These data have been post-processed and clipped to the Exclusive Economic Zone for the Pacific Coast.

Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) utilization distribution (UD) in the California Current. Utilization Distribution is the probability of an animal being found in a given location.

In this study, satellite and light-based geolocation tracking data from the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) project were used to determine the distribution and key habitats of eight protected predator species across three taxa groups within the US waters of the California Current System (CCS).

Distributions and potential risks to a suite of key predator species, spanning a variety of ecological roles and life histories (central place foragers, capital breeders and migratory breeders), was modeled in the US West Coast exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and examined in relation to to marine sanctuaries.

Study findings show some of the highest cumulative utilization and impact (CUI) regions are on the continental shelf and in the sanctuaries, but suggest means of mitigating impacts and paths forward to better management of marine predators.
Data Provided By:
TOPP (Tagging of Pacific Predators) Program
A program using electronic tagging technologies that studies migration patterns of large open-ocean animals and the oceanographic factors controlling these patterns.


Lead Author:

Sara Maxwell
Department of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
E-mail: smaxwell@odu.edu

Data Owners:

Bruce Mate
Oregon State University
E-mail: bruce.mate@oregonstate.edu

Ladd Irvine
Oregon State University
E-mail: ladd.irvine@oregonstate.edu

Co-Authors:

Barbara Block
Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology,
Stanford University
E-mail: bblock@stanford.edu

Daniel Costa
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California Santa Cruz
E-mail: costa@ucsc.edu

Bruce Mate
Oregon State University
E-mail: bruce.mate@oregonstate.edu

Ladd Irvine
Oregon State University
E-mail: ladd.irvine@oregonstate.edu

Steven Bograd
NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC
E-mail: steven.bograd@noaa.gov

Elliott Hazen
NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC
E-mail: Elliott.Hazen@noaa.gov

Benjamin Halpern
University of California, Santa Barbara
E-mail: halpern@bren.ucsb.edu

Greg Breed
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Ecology
E-mail: gabreed@alaska.edu

Barry Nickel
Center for Integrated Spatial Research,
University of California Santa Cruz
E-mail: bnickel@ucsc.edu

Nicole Teutschel
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California Santa Cruz

Scott Benson
Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program
NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service
Southwest Fisheries Science Center
E-mail: Scott.Benson@noaa.gov

Larry Crowder
Stanford University · Center for Ocean Solutions
E-mail: larry.crowder@stanford.edu

Peter Dutton
Protected Resources Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
E-mail: Peter.Dutton@noaa.gov

Helen Bailey
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory,
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
E-mail: hbailey@umces.edu

Michelle Antolos
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife,
Oregon State University
E-mail: michelle.antolos@gmail.com

Carey Kuhn
National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
E-mail: Carey.Kuhn@noaa.gov

Michael Weise
Office of Naval Research
E-mail: michael.j.weise@navy.mil

Scott Shaffer
Department of Biological Sciences,
San Jose State University
E-mail: scott.shaffer@sjsu.edu

Jason Hassrick
ICF International

Robert Henry
Institute of Marine Science,
University of California Santa Cruz

Birgitte McDonald
Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine,
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
E-mail: gitte.mcdonald@gmail.com

Patrick Robinson
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California Santa Cruz
E-mail: patrick.robinson@ucsc.edu


Funding for this work provided by:
The Sloan Foundation’s Census of Marine Life program and Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station and Center for Ocean Solutions.
TOPP research was funded by the Sloan, Packard and Moore foundations. Electronic tagging and tracking in TOPP was also supported by the Office of Naval Research, the NOAA, the E&P Sound and Marine Life JIP under contract from the OGP and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. S.M.M. was supported by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the UCSC Chancellor’s Fellowship, Steve Blank and TWIG. We are grateful to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Hawaii for logistical support, P. Raimondi for statistical guidance, and C. Champagne, R. Lewison, B. Best, L. Ballance, J. Samhouri and D. Wingfield Briscoe for manuscript assistance.
Content date:
June 2003 to January 2009
Citation:
Maxwell, S. M. et al. Cumulative human impacts on marine predators. Nat. Commun. 4:2688 doi: 10.1038/ncomms3688 (2013).
Spatial Resolution:
0.25 degrees
Contact Organization:
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA
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Tags:
blue whale, satellite tracking, geolocation tracking, marine predators, telemetry, utilization distribution
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