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Past and recent sperm whales sightings in the Azores based on catches and whale watching information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2009

N. Vieira  and
C. Brito
N. Vieira*
Affiliation:
Escola de Mar, Rua Actriz Virgínia 17 C, 1900-026 Lisboa, Portugal
C. Brito
Affiliation:
Escola de Mar, Rua Actriz Virgínia 17 C, 1900-026 Lisboa, Portugal CHAM, Centro de História de Além-Mar, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Avenida de Berna, 26 C, 1069-061 Lisboa, Portugal
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: N. Vieira, Escola de Mar, Rua Actriz Virgínia 17 C, 900-026 Lisboa, Portugal email: info@escolademar.pt
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Abstract

The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was the most captured great whale in the Azores Archipelago by land-based whaling and nowadays is the most appealing species for whale watching, one of the archipelago's principal sources of tourism. Our objective was to compare number of sightings during whaling and whale watching activities. Our main question to address the possible impact of past whaling in recent whale watching is: does a present-day eco-tourist sight more or fewer sperm whales than a whaler could sight in the past? For that, a compilation of data resulting both from past whaling records and recent whale watching records was conducted. We obtained a total of 727 independent sightings of sperm whales during a total of 280 different days of sperm whaling between 1947 and 1973. A total of 1767 sperm whale sightings were made during 1133 days of whale watching activities, between 1997 and 2008. The sperm whale sighting per unit of effort average was significantly higher in the past (35.68) than in the present (12.06). In the Azores, captures over the decades greatly decreased the number of sperm whales in the region and twenty years after the end of sperm whaling a reduced number of recent sightings were found.

Keywords

sperm whalesland-based whalingwhale-watchinghistorical SPUErecent SPUE
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Special Issue 5: Cetaceans , August 2009 , pp. 1067 - 1070
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

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