A modelling analysis conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) identified these areas as the most suitable habitat for Blue whales: Gulf of St. Lawrence, waters off the southern coast of Newfoundland, the region of Mecatina Trough, the Esquiman Channel and the continental shelf margin off Nova Scotia. They represent important areas for foraging, feeding and socializing for Blue whales. The sources of data used to determine these important areas (by the enclosing boxes method) and the annual and seasonal cycles of Blue whale travel patterns include, but are not limited to, radio and satellite telemetry, passive acoustic monitoring, line-transect aerial surveys, anecdotal reports of observations and modelling. This layer does not represent the general distribution of the Blue whale. Important areas have been identified by reviewing several sources of information and to the best of researchers' knowledge. Several information about Blue whales, their behaviour and habitat use are still unknown. Data is scarce in some areas during winter periods. Observation efforts mostly occur during the summer period, however, data sources can validate their presence during seasons when the observation effort is lower. The Mecatina trough region represents an important area based on historical and non-current data. The presence data per month refers strictly to the information available in the cited research document, and does not express the absence of the species outside the months when a presence was validated. The presented information is valid until the following research survey. Reference: Lesage, V., J.-F. Gosselin, J. W. Lawson, I. McQuinn, H. Moors-Murphy, S. Plourde, R. Sears. and Y. Simard. 2018. Habitats important to blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Western North Atlantic. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2016/080: iv + 50 p.

Sightings data were collected by the Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS) from 1980 to 2008 with annual surveys realised in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between the end of may and early november. Surveys were conducted using inflatable boats enabling the close approaches necessary to photograph and biopsy blue whales. The aim of this project was to provide additional information for designating blue whale critical habitat as required under the Canadian Species at Risk Act. For more details consult the following report: Ramp, C. and Sears, R. 2013. Distribution, densities, and annual occurrence of individual blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada from 1980-2008. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2012/157. vii + 37 p. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/ResDocs-DocRech/2012/2012_157-eng.html Data of blue whale sightings, collected by the MICS, have been analysed per km of effort in 3 x 3 km grid cells in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for the 2000-2008 period.

The blue whale (Balaenopterus musculus) is a wide-ranging cetacean that can be found in all oceans, inhabiting coastal and oceanic habitats. In the North Atlantic, little is known about blue whale distribution and genetic structure, and if whether animals found in Icelandic waters, the Azores, or Northwest Africa are part of the same population as those from the Northwest Atlantic. In the Northwest Atlantic, seasonal movements of blue whales and habitat use, including the location of breeding and wintering areas, are poorly understood. The behaviour of remotely-monitored animals can be inferred from a time series of location data. This is because animals tend to demonstrate stochasticity in their movement paths as a result of spatial variation in environmental characteristics, such as topography or prey density (Curio 1976; Gardner et al. 1989; Turchin 1991; Wiens et al. 1993). Predators are expected to decrease travel speed and/or increase turning frequency and turning angle when a suitable resource, e.g., food patch, is encountered (Turchin 1991), otherwise known as area-restricted search (ARS). In contrast, animals in transit or travelling tend to move at faster and more regular speeds, with infrequent and smaller turning angles (Kareiva and Odell 1987; Turchin 1998). Based on satellite telemetry to track the seasonal movements of 24 blue whales from eastern Canada in 2002 and from 2010 to 2015, it was possible to estimate trajectories and locations where ARS behaviour of blue whales was inferred at a 4h time interval. To assess blue whale movements and behavior, a Bayesian switching statespace model (SSSM) was applied to Argos-derived telemetry data (Jonsen et al. 2005; Jonsen et al. 2013). An SSSM essentially estimates animal location at fixed time intervals, movement parameters and behavioral patterns. Two important sources of uncertainty can be measured separately: estimation error resulting from inaccurate observations (Argos location error) and process variability linked to the stochasticity of the movement process (behavior mode estimation) (Jonsen et al. 2003; Patterson et al. 2008). The points visible on land are the result of errors in the Argos geographic position calculation. They have been deliberately left unchanged to assess the performance of the model, which was able to clean up some positions, but not all. Lesage, V., Gavrilchuk, K., Andrews, R.D., and Sears, R. 2016. Wintering areas, fall movements and foraging sites of blue whales satellite-tracked in the Western North Atlantic. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2016/078. v + 38 p.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuary (ONMS) updates and revises the management plans for each of its 13 sanctuaries. This process, which is open to the public, enables each site to revisit the reasons for sanctuary designation and assess whether they are meeting their goals, as well as to set new goals consistent with the mandates of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Issues raised by the public during this process are evaluated and a determination is made as to whether they will be incorporated into the updated plan. Many of these issues focus on topics such as the implementation of marine zoning or sanctuary boundary adjustments, both of which require information on the distribution of resources within and around the sanctuary. Recognizing this, ONMS and NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) formalized an agreement to collaborate in the revision process by developing such information through a series of biogeographic assessments conducted in selected sanctuaries. The resulting products are then supplied to sanctuary managers and staff for use in the policy and decision making process. This collaborative effort began along the west coast of the U.S. with the Cordell Bank, Gulf of Farallones, and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries, and is herein centered on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS).

A spreadsheet detailing the filenames and sighting numbers (to link to visual observations) of the best left and/or right photos of blue whales photographed and individually identified during the blue whale voyages (2) in the Bonney Upwelling, 2012. The 'best' photos are also included as jpegs. See http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/sorp/antarctic-blue-whale-project/bonney-upwelling-acoustic-testing-expeditions and http://www.marinemammals.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/135617/SC-64-SH11.pdf for further detail regarding the blue whale voyages.

This is a parent record for data collected from AAS project 4102. Project 4102 also follows on from ASAC project 2683, "Passive acoustic monitoring of antarctic marine mammals" (see the related metadata record at the provided URL). Public Summary: Half a century ago the Antarctic blue whale was perilously close to extinction. Over 350,000 were killed before the remaining few were fully protected. A decade ago this elusive and poorly understood species was estimated to be less than 5% of its pre-whaling abundance. This multi-national, circumpolar project will develop and apply powerful new techniques to survey these rare whales and gain an insight into their recovery and ecology. The project is the flagship of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership - an International Whaling Commission endorsed collaborative program.

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This map service is a synthesis of the baseline characterization of kelp and shallow rock ecosystems inside and outside of several North Central Coast (NCC) MPAs at the time of their implementation. MPAs in the NCC study region (NCCSR) were implemented on May 1, 2010. Baseline characterizations were conducted by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) between August and October of 2010 and 2011. Visual SCUBA surveys took place at sites within MPAs and at their associated reference sites (sites outside MPA) to establish quantitative baselines for measuring future MPA effects (i.e., changes in community structure due to MPA implementation). This particular map service focuses on PISCOs characterization of fish communities aimed at estimating fish densities and fish size distribution. Refer to the following link for specifics regarding PISCOs “fish survey design” and “fish sampling methodology”: https://piscoweb.org/kelp-forest-sampling-protocols.Surveys for baseline characterization of kelp forest communities focused on the following MPAs: Point Arena SMR; Sea Lion Cove SMCA; Saunders Reef SMCA; Del Mar SMR; Stewarts Point SMR/SMCA; and Salt Point SMCA. From Point Arena to Salt Point, 35 cells (fundamental sampling units) were sampled via fish transects (inside and outside of MPAs) using stratified sampling across shore and at various depths in the kelp forests (5m, 10m, 15m and 20m). Utilizing PISCOs GPS coordinates of the 35 study cells (points), and details from PISCOs methods (see link above), we created estimated footprints of the areas in which these transects were surveyed (the 35 fundamental sampling units). From there, we also estimated the aggregated site polygons (aggregate sampling units) that comprise either an MPA or an MPA reference site; this resulted in 12 new polygons that were representative of the kelp and shallow rock ecosystems surveyed by PISCO. Stewarts Point SMR and SMCA are combined in the survey summaries to m

This map service is a synthesis of the baseline characterization of kelp and shallow rock ecosystems inside and outside of several North Central Coast (NCC) MPAs at the time of their implementation. MPAs in the NCC study region (NCCSR) were implemented on May 1, 2010. Baseline characterizations were conducted by the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) between August and October of 2010 and 2011. Visual SCUBA surveys took place at sites within MPAs and at their associated reference sites (sites outside MPA) to establish quantitative baselines for measuring future MPA effects (i.e., changes in community structure due to MPA implementation). This particular map service focuses on PISCOs characterization of fish communities aimed at estimating fish densities and fish size distribution. Refer to the following link for specifics regarding PISCOs “fish survey design” and “fish sampling methodology”: http://www.piscoweb.org/research/science-by-discipline/ecosystem-monitoring/kelp-forest-monitoring/subtidal-sampling-protoco#FishSurvey.Surveys for baseline characterization of kelp forest communities focused on the following MPAs: Point Arena SMR; Sea Lion Cove SMCA; Saunders Reef SMCA; Del Mar SMR; Stewarts Point SMR/SMCA; and Salt Point SMCA. From Point Arena to Salt Point, 35 cells (fundamental sampling units) were sampled via fish transects (inside and outside of MPAs) using stratified sampling across shore and at various depths in the kelp forests (5m, 10m, 15m and 20m). Utilizing PISCOs GPS coordinates of the 35 study cells (points), and details from PISCOs methods (see link above), we created estimated footprints of the areas in which these transects were surveyed (the 35 fundamental sampling units). From there, we also estimated the aggregated site polygons (aggregate sampling units) that comprise either an MPA or an MPA reference site; this resulted in 12 new polygons that were representative of the kelp and shallow rock ecosystems surv