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Habitat use of humpback whales in Godthaabsfjord, West Greenland, with implications for commercial exploitation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2010

Tenna Kragh Boye ,
Malene Simon  and
Peter Teglberg Madsen
Tenna Kragh Boye*
Affiliation:
Zoophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, C.F. Møllers Allé, Building 1131, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Malene Simon
Affiliation:
Zoophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, C.F. Møllers Allé, Building 1131, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark Department of Birds and Mammals, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, PO Box 570, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland
Peter Teglberg Madsen
Affiliation:
Zoophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, C.F. Møllers Allé, Building 1131, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: T.K. Boye, Zoophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aarhus, C.F. Møllers Allé, Building 1131, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark email: tennaboye@hotmail.com
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Abstract

North Atlantic humpback whales migrate from breeding grounds to high latitude feeding areas to where individuals display large scale site fidelity. In Godthaabsfjord (Greenland), humpback whales are present from early spring to late autumn. To test for small scale site fidelity and occurrence, identification-photographs were collected from May to September 2007 and 2008 and compared with an older catalogue. We found high small scale site fidelity where 40% of the whales present in 2007 were resighted in 2008. The average resight rate from 1992 to 2008 was 30.2%. Individuals did not remain in the fjord the entire season and the time spent in the fjord was highly variable amongst individuals varying between 7–60% of the time from May to September. Individual humpback whales in the presence and absence of boats were tracked with a land-based theodolite to test for effects of whale watching on whale behaviour. Whale watch vessels were shown to significantly increase whale swimming speed, to shorten long dives and diminish the ratio between surfacings and long dives. It is concluded that the same foraging whales use this fjord system year after year, calling for regulation of whale watching and for consideration when discussing reopening the whaling of humpback whales in West Greenland.

Keywords

humpback whalephoto-identificationsite fidelityhabitat usetheodolite trackingwhale watching
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 90 , Special Issue 8: Marine Mammals , December 2010 , pp. 1529 - 1538
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

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