[CINC] Humpback Whale CA-OR Population Esitmates

[Shauna Bingham]

The question regarding humpback whale population estimates for 
California came up at our last CINC monthly meeting. Please see below 
for the current estimate. You can visit the Cascadia Reseach Collective 
website to view the entire 57 page report where I extracted this 
information.
-- Shauna *

SPLASH: Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of 
Humpback Whales in the North Pacific*
Final report for Contract AB133F-03-RP-00078
Cascadia Research
Waterstreet Building
218½ W 4th Avenue
Olympia, Washington 98501
www.cascadiaresearch.org

"Using several methods, the abundance of humpback whales was estimated 
to be just
under 20,000 for the entire North Pacific, an estimate that is about 
double estimates made
previously. The non-stratified Chapman-Petersen estimates of abundance 
were 18,000 to 21,000.
Among geographically stratified models, the model assuming non-Markovian 
movements with
capture probability proportional to sample size across years provided 
the best overall fit to the
data indicated an abundance of 17,558 for wintering areas and 19,056 for 
the feeding areas. The
average of these two estimates (18,302) represented the best estimate of 
overall abundance of
humpback whales in the North Pacific, excluding calves. Over 50% of this 
population was
estimated to winter in Hawaiian waters with large populations also 
inhabiting Mexican waters.
The abundance estimates of humpback whales wintering in Asia and Central 
America were fairly
low (1,000 or less). Among feeding areas, regional estimates differed 
greatly among models.
Average estimates of abundance ranged from about 100-700 for Russia, 
6,000-14,000 for the
Bering Sea and Aleutians, 3,000-5,000 each for the Gulf of Alaska and 
the combined Southeast
Alaska and Northern British Columbia area, 200-400 for Southern British 
Columbia-Northern
Washington, and *1,400-1,700 for California-Oregon*."

-- 
Shauna Bingham 
Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator
NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
3600 S. Harbor Blvd. #111
Oxnard, CA 93035
Shauna.Bingham at noaa.gov
(805) 382-6149 ext. 102
Fax (805) 382-9791
http://channelislands.noaa.gov

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