Long‐term photo‐identification study of fin whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary (NW Mediterranean) as a baseline for targeted conservation and mitigation measures

• Published in: Aquatic conservation Vol. 32; no. 9; pp. 1457 - 1470
• Main Authors: Zanardelli, Margherita, Airoldi, Sabina, Bérubé, Martine, Borsani, J. Fabrizio, Di‐Meglio, Nathalie, Gannier, Alexandre, Hammond, Philip S., Jahoda, Maddalena, Lauriano, Giancarlo, Notarbartolo di Sciara, Giuseppe, Panigada, Simone
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2022; Wiley
• Subjects: abundance estimate; Aquatic mammals; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biopsy; Capture-recapture studies; Catalogues; Cetacea; Confidence intervals; Conservation; conservation management plans (CMP); Emigration; Environmental Sciences; Estimates; fin whale Balaenoptera physalus; Fins; Identification; Important Marine Mammal Areas; Marine mammals; mark-recapture studies; mark–recapture; Mediterranean Sea; Mitigation; Nature conservation; Particularly Sensitive Sea Area; photo‐identification; Population; Population number; population size; Sanctuaries; Seasons; Sex ratio; Ships; Survival; survival rate; Whales

Historical abundance estimates are important for establishing baselines from which trends can be determined using more recent data. Long‐term studies based on photo‐identification were merged and used to estimate population size, survival rate and sex ratio (biopsy sampling) of fin whales in the Nor...