Distribution and density of six large whale species in the New York Bight from monthly aerial surveys 2017 to 2020

Zoidis, Ann M.; Lomac-MacNair, Kate; Ireland, Darren S.; Rickard, Meghan E.; McKown, Kim A.; Schlesinger, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.csr.2021.104572

Cited by 17 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The NYB is considered one of the world's most humaninfluenced coastal habitats. However, while increasing information is emerging about how cetaceans use this habitat (e.g., King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021), a better understanding is still needed as to how distributions might change in the future under continuing oceanographic and climatic shifts, as well as forthcoming renewable energy development. In this study, we tested the utility of eDNA to detect cetaceans, as well as cooccurring fish species, in the NYB.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Environmental DNA to Detect Whales and Dolphins in the New York Bight

Alter

King

Chou

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Determining how cetaceans and other threatened marine animals use coastal habitats is critical to the effective conservation of these species. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an emerging tool that can potentially be used to detect cetaceans over broad spatial and temporal scales. In particular, eDNA may present a useful complementary method for monitoring their presence during visual surveys in nearshore areas, and for co-detecting prey. In conjunction with ongoing visual surveys, we tested the ability of eDNA metabarcoding to detect the presence and identity of cetaceans in the New York Bight (NYB), and to identify fish species (potential prey) present in the area. In almost all cases in which humpback whales and dolphins were visually observed, DNA from these species was also detected in water samples. To assess eDNA degradation over time, we took samples in the same location 15 and 30 min after a sighting in seven instances, and found that eDNA often, but not always, dropped to low levels after 30 min. Atlantic menhaden were detected in all samples and comprised the majority of fish sequences in most samples, in agreement with observations of large aggregations of this important prey species in the NYB. While additional data are needed to better understand how factors such as behavior and oceanographic conditions contribute to the longevity of eDNA signals, these results add to a growing body of work indicating that eDNA is a promising tool to complement visual and acoustic surveys of marine megafauna.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Environmental DNA to Detect Whales and Dolphins in the New York Bight

Alter

King

Chou

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…Other studies detected humpback whales in the NYBA and the greater New York Bight during winter (e.g. Whitt et al, 2015;Davis et al, 2020;Zeh et al, 2020;Zoidis et al, 2021). Aerial surveys conducted by Zoidis et al (2021) found lower sighting rates for humpback whales in the New York Bight during winter and spring than the rest of the year, which would be consistent with small numbers of humpback whales found wintering on primary feeding grounds (Clapham et al, 1993;Robbins, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Barco et al (2002) used photo-identification techniques to determine that these individuals were primarily juveniles from multiple summer feeding grounds, including the GoM, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland/Labrador. Humpback whales were also once uncommon off New York City, but they are now frequently seen inside the New York-New Jersey harbor estuary and in the greater New York Bight apex (NYBA, Brown et al, 2018Brown et al, , 2019King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2022), located at the northernmost portion of the USMA. Sightings occur year-round in the NYBA but appear to be most common during summer and autumn (Brown et al, 2018;King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Humpback whales were also once uncommon off New York City, but they are now frequently seen inside the New York-New Jersey harbor estuary and in the greater New York Bight apex (NYBA, Brown et al, 2018Brown et al, , 2019King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2022), located at the northernmost portion of the USMA. Sightings occur year-round in the NYBA but appear to be most common during summer and autumn (Brown et al, 2018;King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021). It remains to be determined whether humpback whales in the NYBA represent a northern expansion of individuals that had wintered off Virginia, a southern expansion of individuals from the adjacent GoM, or is the result of another phenomenon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also unclear how long individual humpback whales remain in the NYBA. This is of particular interest due the region's urban location, and the potential for extended exposure to high levels of commercial and recreational vessel activity (Brown et al, 2019;King et al, 2021;Zoidis et al, 2021), and other human interactions. For example, an Unusual Mortality Event for humpback whales along the Atlantic Coast of the USA has been ongoing since January 2016, with 50% of the examined carcasses showing signs of human interaction and 30% of documented strandings occurring off New York and New Jersey.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Site fidelity, population identity and demographic characteristics of humpback whales in the New York Bight apex

Brown

Robbins²,

Sieswerda³

et al. 2022

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) exhibit maternally driven fidelity to feeding grounds, and yet occasionally occupy new areas. Humpback whale sightings and mortalities in the New York Bight apex (NYBA) have been increasing over the last decade, providing an opportunity to study this phenomenon in an urban habitat. Whales in this area overlap with human activities, including busy shipping traffic leading into the Port of New York and New Jersey. The site fidelity, population composition and demographics of individual whales were analysed to better inform management in this high-risk area. Whale watching and other opportunistic data collections were used to identify 101 individual humpback whales in the NYBA from spring through autumn, 2012–2018. Although mean occurrence was low (2.5 days), mean occupancy was 37.6 days, and 31.3% of whales returned from one year to the next. Individuals compared with other regional and ocean-basin-wide photo-identification catalogues (N = 52) were primarily resighted at other sites along the US East Coast, including the Gulf of Maine feeding ground. Sightings of mother-calf pairs were rare in the NYBA, suggesting that maternally directed fidelity may not be responsible for the presence of young whales in this area. Other factors including shifts in prey species distribution or changes in population structure more broadly should be investigated.

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Integrated approaches for comprehensive cetacean research and conservation in the East China Sea

Yang,

Jin,

et al. 2024

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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Distribution and density of six large whale species in the New York Bight from monthly aerial surveys 2017 to 2020

Cited by 17 publications

References 29 publications

Using Environmental DNA to Detect Whales and Dolphins in the New York Bight

Using Environmental DNA to Detect Whales and Dolphins in the New York Bight

Site fidelity, population identity and demographic characteristics of humpback whales in the New York Bight apex

Integrated approaches for comprehensive cetacean research and conservation in the East China Sea

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