Movimientos y uso espacial de odontocetos en las principales islas hawaianas occidentales : resultados de un estudio de tres años de Oahu y Kauai . New report available:Movements and spatial use of odontocetes in the western main Hawaiian Islands: results of a three-year study off Oahu and Kauai. Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, S.D. Mahaffy, G.S. Schorr, J.M. Aschettino, and A.M. Gorgone. 2013. Final report under Grant No. N00244-10-1-0048 from the Naval Postgraduate School. A long-term assessment of odontocete populations throughout the main Hawaiian Islands has involved small-boat surveys using photo-identification, genetic sampling and satellite tagging, to address questions related to population structure and habitat use, among others. Prior to 2010 we had undertaken limited field operations off Oahu (in 2002 and 2003), and off of Kauai (in 2003, 2005 and 2008). Navy training activities may take place throughout the Hawaii Range Complex, however many of the training exercises are undertaken in the western main Hawaiian Islands, in particular at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) off Kauai and Niihau. As part of an effort to reduce uncertainty regarding the population structure, range, and abundance of odontocetes in the western main Hawaiian Islands, to help inform Navy impact assessments, we undertook small-boat based research efforts off Oahu (in 2010) and off Kauai (in 2011 and 2012). These efforts utilized a variety of fiel d methods to obtain data sets relevant to assessing these population characteristics, including photo-identification, collection of biopsy samples for genetic studies, and satellite tagging. Over the three years of the project surveys were undertaken on 66 days (406 hours), covering 6,559 km. Overall there were 191 odontocete sightings, 183 of which were identified to species. Off Oahu there were 30 sightings of 10 species, while off Kauai and Niihau there were 153 sightings of eight species. One hundred and two biopsy samples were collected from seven different species for genetics and toxicology studies. Thirty satellite tags were deployed on five species: pygmy killer whales, false killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins, and short-finned pilot whales. For all five species, tag data indicate that there are island-associated populations. Our efforts substantially increased what is known about the movements and habitat use of these five species of odontocetes in the western main Hawaiian Islands. The report can be downloaded from cascadiaresearch.org/hawaii/Bairdetal_NPS_final_report.pdf
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 23:29:38 +0000
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