pacific islands report_NU.indd - Whale and Dolphin Conservation ...

SummaryAfter analysis of records it became apparent thata core group of species made up the majority ofcetacean records for the Pacific Islands Region.Focussing on the 22 Island Countries and Territories(i.e., excluding records from Australia, New Zealandand Hawaii) the list of species that appear to beresident or typically migrant are: minke whales(two species and multiple subspecies), sei whale,Bryde’s whales (two species), blue whales (multiplesubspecies), humpback whale, pygmy killer whale,short-finned pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, Fraser’sdolphin, orca, melon-headed whale, false killer whale,pantropical spotted dolphin, striped dolphin, spinnerdolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, bottlenose dolphin(two species), dwarf sperm whale, pygmy spermwhale, sperm whale, Blainville’s beaked whale, andCuvier’s beaked whale. It is plausible that ongoingtaxonomic investigations may indicate that the currentspecies and subspecies designations are inadequate todisplay the diversity of these records. In addition thereare numerous rare and vagrant species with recordswithin this same region, including: fin whale, commondolphin (two species), Irrawaddy dolphin (possibly twospecies, although unresolved), Indo-Pacific humpbackdolphin, southern right whale, southern bottlenosewhale, and tentative records of both Peale’s dolphinand southern right whale dolphin. Of course, thelimited research efforts in this region coupled with thevery large expanse of the Pacific Islands Region marinecoverage makes it plausible that there may also be asyet unreported species that inhabit these waters. Onesuch example is the numerous unconfirmed sightingsof additional beaked whale species (for e.g., Reeveset al. 1999, Kahn 2004). In addition there are 21cetacean species for which there are records only fromAustralian, New Zealand and/or Hawaiian waters. Inmany cases these represent more temperate species.These species are: spectacled porpoise, Arnoux’sbeaked whale, pygmy right whale, long-finned pilotwhale, Indo-Pacific beaked whale, hourglass dolphin,dusky dolphin, Andrew’s beaked whale, gingkotoothedbeaked whale, Gray’s beaked whale, Hector’sbeaked whale, Layard’s beaked whale, True’s beakedwhale, Tasman’s beaked whale, Hubb’s beaked whale,Hector’s dolphin, Longman’s beaked whale, Perrin’sbeaked whale, pygmy beaked whale, spade-toothedbeaked whale, and finless porpoise.Table 1: Country checklist summary of cetaceanspecies with records classified as either 1 or 2(according to definitions on page 35) for only the 22Pacific Island Countries and Territories (i.e., excludingAustralia, New Zealand, and Hawaii). Some speciescategories have been combined due to noteddifficulties with individual species identification orsubspecies differentiation, and/or instances wheretaxonomic nomenclature is unresolved or has changed.Specifically, the categories of bottlenose dolphins,common dolphins, dwarf/pygmy sperm whale, minkewhales, and blue whales each include all species andor subspecies. Irrawaddy dolphin records may alsoinclude snub-fin dolphin records. ‘Bryde’s-like’ whalesrefers to all Bryde’s whale records as well as historicalrecords of sei whales in which differentiation fromBryde’s whales is at all questionable.CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF CETACEAN THREATS, DIVERSITY, AND HABITATS IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION 61