Found: a missing breeding ground for endangered western North Pacific humpback whales in the Mariana Archipelago

Marie C. Hill; Amanda L. Bradford; Debbie Steel; C. Scott Baker; Allan D. Ligon; Adam C. Ü; Jo Marie V. Acebes; Olga A. Filatova; Siri Hakala; Nozomi Kobayashi; Yukari Morimoto; Haruna Okabe; Ryosuke Okamoto; Julie Rivers; Takayuki Sato; Olga V. Titova; Robert K. Uyeyama; Erin M. Oleson

doi:10.3354/esr01010

ESR

Endangered Species Research

via Mailchimp

ESR 41:91-103 (2020) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01010

Found: a missing breeding ground for endangered western North Pacific humpback whales in the Mariana Archipelago

Marie C. Hill^1,2,*, Amanda L. Bradford², Debbie Steel³, C. Scott Baker³, Allan D. Ligon⁴, Adam C. Ü⁵, Jo Marie V. Acebes⁶, Olga A. Filatova⁷, Siri Hakala², Nozomi Kobayashi⁸, Yukari Morimoto⁹, Haruna Okabe⁸, Ryosuke Okamoto¹⁰, Julie Rivers¹¹, Takayuki Sato⁹, Olga V. Titova¹², Robert K. Uyeyama¹³, Erin M. Oleson²

¹Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
²Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, NOAA, Honolulu, HI 96818, USA
³Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Newport, OR 97365, USA
⁴Erin, TN 37061, USA
⁵Maple Falls, WA 98266, USA
⁶BALYENA.ORG, Barangay Pangdan, Jagna, Bohol 6308, Philippines
⁷Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia
⁸Okinawa Churashima Research Center, Okinawa Churashima Foundation, 888 Ishikawa, Motobu-cho, Okinawa 905-0206, Japan
⁹Ogasawara Marine Center, Everlasting Nature of Asia, Byoubudani Chichi-jima, Ogasawara-mura, Tokyo 100-2101, Japan
¹⁰Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, Chichi-jima, Ogasawara-mura, Tokyo 100-2101, Japan
¹¹Commander US Navy Forces Europe/Africa, US Sixth Fleet, Naples, Italy
¹²Kamchatka Branch of Pacific Institute of Geography FEB RAS, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683024, Russia
¹³Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, Pearl Harbor, HI 96860, USA

*Corresponding author: marie.hill@noaa.gov

ABSTRACT: Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae that breed in the western North Pacific (WNP) are listed as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Previous research in the WNP concluded that the full extent of humpback whale breeding areas is unknown. Recovering this endangered population requires identifying all associated breeding grounds and potential threats in those locations. Prior to 2015, humpback whales were known to occur in the Mariana Archipelago (within the WNP), but their population identity and habitat use there were unknown. To determine the population identity of humpback whales in the Mariana Archipelago and whether the area serves as a breeding ground for these whales, small-boat photo-identification and biopsy sampling surveys were conducted in the southern portion of the archipelago during February and March 2015-2018. A total of 14 mother-calf pairs and 27 other non-calf whales were encountered. Seven non-calves were re-sighted in multiple years, including 4 females associated with calves in one or more years. Competitive behavior was observed in multiple years. Comparisons with other North Pacific humpback whale catalogs resulted in matches to breeding (Japan and Philippines) and feeding (Russia) grounds in the WNP. DNA profiling of 28 biopsy samples identified 24 individuals (14 females, 10 males) representing 7 mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. The haplotype frequencies from the Mariana Archipelago showed the greatest identity with the Ogasawara breeding ground and Commander Islands feeding ground in the WNP. This study establishes the Mariana Archipelago as a breeding area for endangered WNP humpback whales, which should be considered in ongoing research and conservation efforts.

KEY WORDS: Humpback whales · Mariana Archipelago · Breeding ground · Photo-identification · Genetics

Full text in pdf format
Supplementary material

Cite this article as: Hill MC, Bradford AL, Steel D, Baker CS and others (2020) Found: a missing breeding ground for endangered western North Pacific humpback whales in the Mariana Archipelago. Endang Species Res 41:91-103. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01010

Export citation
Share: Facebook - - linkedIn

Cited by

Previous article Next article