2015 WGW Photo-ID Report
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WESTERN GRAY WHALE ADVISORY PANEL WGWAP-17/8-EN 17th meeting 11-13 November 2016 PUBLIC GRAY WHALE (ESCHRICHTIUS ROBUSTUS) PHOTO IDENTIFICATION OFF NORTH-EAST COAST OF SAKHALIN IN 2015 Photo by Yu. M. Yakovlev Yu. M. Yakovlev, O.M. Tyurneva, V.V. Vertyankin, Peter van der Wolf Prepared for: Exxon Neftegas Limited and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company VLADIVOSTOK March 2016 WESTERN GRAY WHALE ADVISORY PANEL WGWAP-17/8-EN 17th meeting 11-13 November 2016 PUBLIC TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 7 1. STUDY OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 7 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................................................................... 8 2.1. Methods for Field Studies ..................................................................................................... 8 2.2. Laboratory Methods ............................................................................................................ 11 3. SURVEY RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 12 3.1. Field work results ................................................................................................................ 12 3.2. Identification of whales and the number of animals ........................................................... 13 3.3. Frequency of Sightings and Migration of Identified Whales Between Known Feeding Areas on the shelf of Sakhalin Island ......................................................................................... 15 3.3.1. The Offshore Area ................................................................................................. 17 3.3.2. Piltun Area ............................................................................................................. 17 3.4. Cow-Calf Pairs .................................................................................................................... 19 3.5. Physical condition ............................................................................................................... 21 3.5.1. Condition factor ..................................................................................................... 21 3.5.2. Skin Condition ....................................................................................................... 25 3.6. Additional studies and data obtained in 2015. .................................................................... 26 3.6.1. Photo identification in the Piltun area in November and December ..................... 26 3.6.2. Photo identification in the Vostochny Wildlife Refuge (Sakhalin Island) in No- vember ................................................................................................................. 26 3.6.3. Photo identification in Olga Bay (Kamchatka Peninsula) in August .................... 26 4. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 27 4.1. Migration of Whales Between Sakhalin Feeding Areas ..................................................... 27 4.2. Whale Migration between Southeast Kamchatka and Sakhalin Island ............................... 28 4.3. Whale Migration between Other Areas and Sakhalin ......................................................... 28 4.4. Cow-Calf Pairs .................................................................................................................... 30 4.5. Physical condition ............................................................................................................... 30 5. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 31 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... 34 7. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 35 8. STUDY PARTICIPANTS ........................................................................................................... 43 APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................... 45 2 WESTERN GRAY WHALE ADVISORY PANEL WGWAP-17/8-EN 17th meeting 11-13 November 2016 PUBLIC ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: The number of gray whales recorded in the catalog and identified in 2002-2015 off the NE coast of Sakhalin Island. ........................................................................................................ 14 Figure 2. The percentage of whales sighted in the Piltun and Offshore feeding areas vs. the total number of known whales in 2015. (n=168). No whales younger than 4 years were seen in the Offshore area. ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Figure 3. The number of whales sighted in the main feeding areas NE off Sakhalin from 2002 through 2015. ..................................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4. The ratio of gray whales sighted in the Offshore and Piltun Areas over all years of research (2002-2015, n=257) ............................................................................................................. 18 Figure 5. Percentage of Photoidentified Gray Whales within Each Physical condition Class Relative to the Total Number of Whales Recorded during the 2015 Field Season in the Offshore ar- ea. ....................................................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 6. Percentage of the gray whales identified for each Physical condition class to the to- tal number of whales observed in the Piltun area during the 2015 field season. ............................... 24 Figure 7. Percentage of the gray whales identified for each Physical condition class to the to- tal number of whales recorded on Sakhalin Island shelf during the 2015 field survey season.......... 25 Figure А1: Locations of Photo identified gray whale encounters north-east off the coast of Sakhalin Island in 2015. ..................................................................................................................... 46 Figure А2: Locations of Photo identified gray whale encounters off the north-east coast of Sakhalin Island in September for all years of 2002-2015 research. ................................................... 47 Figure А3: Conventional borders of gray whales research off the north-east coast of Sakhalin Island. ................................................................................................................................................. 48 3 WESTERN GRAY WHALE ADVISORY PANEL WGWAP-17/8-EN 17th meeting 11-13 November 2016 PUBLIC TABLES Table 1. Scopes of work completed by vessel-based and shore-based boat teams off Sakhalin Island during the 2015 expedition ........................................................................................................ 12 Table 2. Scope of Photo ID Operations performed off Sakhalin Island in 2015 by three vehi- cle-based teams .................................................................................................................................... 12 Table 3. 2015 gray whale identification off Northeast Sakhalin Island by survey teams ........ 15 Table 4. Frequency of Repeat Sightings of Photo Identified Gray Whales (IDW) photo- graphed by five teams off Sakhalin Island in 2015. ............................................................................. 16 Table 5. Frequency of Repeat Sightings of Identified Gray Whales (IDW) Off Sakhalin Island in 2002-2015. ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Table 6. Sighting Frequency of Cow-Calf Pairs and Calves Encountered without Cows Off- shore Sakhalin Island in 2015, with the Assigned Confidence Indices ............................................... 19 Table 7. Number of whales in subnormal physical condition sighted offshore Sakhalin Island in 2003–2015. ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Table 8. Physical condition of Sakhalin Island Gray Whales in 2015 ..................................... 22 Table 9. Year to Year Comparison of the Physical condition of 2014 Cows and Calves Rec- orded off Northeast Sakhalin Island in 2015........................................................................................ 25 Table А1. Scope of Photo identification work and average sea depth during each mission off Sakhalin Island in 2015 (data from vessel-based and shore-based boat teams) .................................. 49 Table А2. Number of gray whales identified off the north-east coast of Sakhalin Island in 2002 – 2015 .......................................................................................................................................... 50 Table А3. History of encounters with temporary whales .......................................................