A note on possible change in the mean calving interval for southern right whales off South Africa
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2010
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International Whaling Commission
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International Whaling Commission
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
A simple approach has been applied to investigate whether resightings of female right whales with calves on annual aerial surveys off South Africa provide any evidence for a change in calving interval over the period from 1979 to 2006 for which data are now available. Updated data, including some corrections to the data from 1979 to 2003 that were considered in previous reports (Best et al., 2001, 2005), are shown in Table 1. The methodology applied is that of Cooke et al. (1993), and is set out in the Appendix. Two possible parameterisations of a change in calving interval probabilities are considered, as reflected in Equations (7) and (8) of that Appendix.
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Brandão, A., Best, P. B., & Butterworth, D. S. (2010). A note on possible change in the mean calving interval for southern right whales off South Africa. International Whaling Commission document: SC A, 10, 1-6.