International scientists track endangered
whale to discover breeding grounds
CAMBRIDGE, UK. – A team of scientists from Russia
and the United States has successfully tagged and is
tracking by satellite a male from one of the
world’s most endangered whale populations – a
western gray whale off the coast of Russia’s
Sakhalin Island.
There are only about 130 western gray whales,
with perhaps only about 33 mature and reproductively
active females. Their feeding grounds in the Russian
Far East are known but details of their migration
routes and breeding grounds are not.
This is the first time an individual from this
critically endangered population has been tagged and
tracked using telemetry, according to Greg Donovan,
Head of Science for the International Whaling
Commission (IWC) based in Cambridge who co-ordinated
the project. “Tremendous care was taken to select a
healthy adult male,” Donovan said. “Although the
risks associated with such tagging are minimal, we
wanted to take absolutely no chances with females or
young animals. The information we expect to get from
this study is vital to international conservation
efforts to preserve this population, as is the
collaboration between governments, international
organisations, international scientists, industry
and other stakeholders.”
The tagged whale, known as ‘Flex’, has been seen
regularly in the Sakhalin area in summer since it
was photographed as a calf in 1997. The team has
been following its movements via satellite with data
beamed from the transmitting tag.
The scientific expedition was led by Vladimir
Vertyankin, of the A.N. Severtsov Institute for
Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of
Sciences (IPEE RAS) with over 35 years experience
with marine mammal research in the region. The
tagging component was led by Bruce Mate, director of
the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State
University (OSU), a pioneer in the use of satellites
to track whales since the late 1970s. The remaining
team members comprised 5 scientists from Russia and
the USA, including Grigory Tsidulko (IPEE RAS) and
Amanda Bradford from the University of Washington,
who have both studied western gray whales for many
years. The telemetry programme was developed by IPEE
RAS, OSU and an international team of experts from
IWC and IUCN, and was carried out under a permit
granted to IPEE RAS as part of their western gray
whale research programme.
“Not a lot is known about western gray whales, so
finding out where they migrate to breed and calve
will be a tremendous step forward,” adds Mate, whose
37-year OSU career has taken him around the world to
study threatened and endangered whales. “Finding the
migration routes and winter grounds of this
critically endangered population will allow range
states to develop or improve effective measures to
protect the whales,” said Vyatcheslav Rozhnov,
deputy director of IPEE RAS, who advances satellite
telemetry in Russia.
The field team embarked on its expedition in late
August to the remote Sakhalin Island region to
locate and tag whales. Logistical challenges and bad
weather conspired to thwart their efforts, even
though some 25 males were sighted and approached.
Finally, on the last day of the expedition, the team
managed to tag ‘Flex’. His movements have been
tracked via satellite on a daily basis since then.
“The conditions were particularly difficult
because of the weather,” said Valentin Ilyashenko of
IPEE RAS and the Russian representative to the IWC.
“The team had to cope with the remnants of two
typhoons and several smaller storms. But the
perseverance of the entire group and the
international collaboration, especially between U.S.
and Russian scientists in the field, has really paid
off. We should learn new things about these
endangered whales that will help to join national
and international efforts to better protect these
whales.”
In the first 8 weeks since the whale was tagged,
the transmitter has sent hundreds of messages from
over 200 locations and documented where the whale
has travelled. It has covered around 830km – all
within a few kilometers of the shore – and thus far
has stayed close to the original tagging site as it
moves north and south along the eastern shore of the
island to feed.
Everyone involved in this effort hopes that the
transmitter will continue tracking for as long as a
year, but for now they are focussed on the short
term. “What we really hope to discover is where
these whales migrate to breed and calve,” pointed
out Finn Larsen, program officer for the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN). “It would be nice to have a full year of
data, but it is these first 3-4 months that are
probably the most critical.”
BACKGROUND
The western North Pacific population of gray
whales was greatly reduced by whaling in previous
centuries. It was feared to be extinct in the
mid-1970s but was ‘rediscovered’ off Sakhalin Island
and has been monitored there since the mid-1990s.
Thankfully, there is evidence of a fragile recovery.
Individual animals can be recognised and sexed by
photographs and genetic information obtained from
biopsies. Sakhalin Island is also the site of major
offshore oil and gas activities and national and
international efforts are under way to minimise the
impacts of industrial development on the whale
population. In addition, the whales are threatened
in much of their presumed range by accidental
entrapment or entanglement in fishing gear and by
heavy ship traffic. A Rangewide Conservation Plan
has been developed by IUCN and endorsed by the IWC;
obtaining telemetry data is also a high-priority
action within that Plan.
This project represents a major international
collaboration between the International Whaling
Commission, the International Union for Conservation
of Nature, the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology
and Evolution Russian Academy of Sciences and Oregon
State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. Funding
for the work was provided by Exxon Neftegas Ltd.
(ENL) and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company
(Sakhalin Energy). ENL and Sakhalin Energy have
sponsored a western grey whale monitoring programme
conducted offshore Sakhalin since 1997.
Notes to Journalists: A frequently updated map of
the tagged whale’s migration path is available at
the following link:
http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/Sakhalin2010
Contacts:
Vyatcheslav Rozhnov,
IPEE RAS, + 7 495 952-73-05; rozhnov.v@gmail.com;
www.sevin.ru
Bruce Mate, +1 541 867 0202;
Bruce.Mate@oregonstate.edu;
http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/
Greg Donovan, IWC, +44 1223 23971;
greg@iwcoffice.org;
www.iwcoffice.org
Finn Larsen, IUCN, + 41 22 999 0291 ;
finn.larsen@iucn.org;
www.iucn.org/wgwap/wgwap
Valentin Ilyashenko,
IPEE, + 7 495 254 8601 ;
valpero53@gmail.com;
www.sevin.ru
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