The First International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas

Ocean-wide, international, collaborative studies of humpback whales: rationales for MMPA
participation, key findings, and the link to networking
David Mattila
<strong>The</strong> SPLASH project (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of
Humpbacks) involved coordinated effort by approximately 400 researchers from 50
organizations who used standard photo-identification, biopsy, and body-condition
imaging methods to study humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean during three
winters and two summers between 2003 and 2006. <strong>The</strong> Hawaiian Islands Humpback
Whale National Marine Sanctuary was a primary driving force for this large,
international, collaborative study because managers recognized that the migratory
humpback population could be influenced by factors outside the sanctuary’s boundaries.
<strong>The</strong> project attempted to sample all known feeding and breeding grounds, and teams of
researchers were deployed from existing small-scale coastal programs and as part of
dedicated large-vessel surveys of previously unsurveyed historical habitat, often in
remote, offshore waters. More than 10,000 individual humpbacks were identified using
images of the color pattern on the undersides of their flukes, and more than 5,600
biopsies were collected for sex determination and genetic, toxin, stable isotope, and fatty
acid analyses. In addition, images of flanks and tail stocks were obtained to allow
assessment of levels of non-lethal interactions with vessels and fishing gear by reference
to the characteristic wounds and scars left by encounters with vessels and gear.
Initial analyses indicate there are as many as seven distinct breeding areas and seven
distinct feeding grounds, with complex types and degrees of mixing among them. In
addition, a previously unrecognized breeding ground used by animals that feed in the
Bering Sea and near the Aleutian Islands was inferred from the proportion of those
animals identified in the sampled breeding grounds. Of particular interest from the
perspective of the Hawaiian Islands sanctuary is the finding that some whales from
Hawai‘i feed near the Russian portion of the Aleutian Chain (this is in addition to the
well-known link between Hawai‘i and Southeast Alaska). <strong>The</strong> data demonstrate links
between the sanctuary in Hawai‘i and the Commander Islands (Komandorsky) State
Biosphere Reserve (Russia), Glacier Bay National Park (Alaska), and the proposed
Gwaii Haanas Marine Conservation area in northern British Columbia. Other findings
suggest that the U.S. west coast sanctuaries are linked to the small, genetically distinct
breeding stock off Central America. Finally, analyses of the flank and tail stock images
showed that whales were at high risk of entanglement in all areas.
ICMMPA <strong>Conference</strong> Proceedings
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