Browsing by Subject "Balaenoptera musculus intermedia"

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    Evidence for increases in Antarctic blue whales based on Bayesian modelling
    (Wiley, 2004) Branch, Trevor A; Matsuoka, Koji; Miyashita, Tomio
    Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) are the largest and formerly most abundant blue whale subspecies, but were hunted to near extinction last century. Estimated whaling mortality was unsustainable from 1928 to 1972 (except during 1942–1944), depleting them from 239,000 (95% interval 202,000–311,000) to a low of 360 (150–840) in 1973. Obtaining statistical evidence for subsequent increases has proved difficult due to their scarcity. We fitted Bayesian models to three sighting series (1968–2001), constraining maximum rates of increase to 12% per annum. These models indicated that Antarctic blue whales are increasing at a mean rate of 7.3% per annum (1.4%–11.6%). Informative priors based on blue whale biology (4.3%, SD = 1.9%) and a Bayesian hierarchical meta-analysis of increase rates in other blue whale populations (−3%, SD = 11.6%), suggest plausible increase rates are lower (although the latter has wide intervals), but a meta-analysis of other mysticetes obtains similar rates of increase (6.7%, SD = 4.0%). Possible biases affecting the input abundance estimates are discussed. Although Antarctic blue whales appear to have been increasing since Sovier illegal whaling ended in 1972, they still need to be protected-their estimated 1996 population size, 1,700 (860–2,900), was just 0.7% (0.3%–1.3%) of the pre-exploitation level.
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    Regional differences in length at sexual maturity for female blue whales based on recovered Soviet whaling data
    (Society for Marine Mammalogy, 2008) Branch, Trevor A; Mikhalev, Y A
    New blue whale ovarian corpora data from illegal Soviet catches in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean were recovered from the original logbooks. Catches north of 52°S were assumed to be pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda, n= 1,272); those south of 56°S were assumed to be Antarctic (true) blue whales (B. m. intermedia, n= 153). Three probable Antarctic blue whales north of 52°S were excluded. Lengths at which 50% and 95% of females become sexually mature (L50 and L95) were estimated from a Bayesian logistic model. These estimates are more precise than previous Japanese estimates because Soviet catches below the legal minimum of 70 ft (21.3 m) were 32 times greater. For pygmy blue whales L50 was 19.2 m (95% interval 19.1–19.3 m) and L95 was 20.5 m (95% interval 20.4–20.7 m). Antarctic L50 (23.4 m, 95% interval 22.9–23.9 m) was much longer than L50 for pygmy blue whale regions (18.4–19.9 m). The median L50 for the northern Indian Ocean was 0.5–0.6 m shorter than for pygmy blue whales from other regions; although statistically significant, these small length differences provide little support for northern Indian Ocean blue whales being a separate subspecies, B. m. indica.