Dear MARMAM community,
Prof Karen Stockin and I are very happy to share the publication of our paper ‘Cetacean sighting records in the New Caledonia Basin, Tasman Sea,
New Zealand’ in New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater.
Abstract: The distribution of marine mammal
species in many areas remains poorly understood, especially as observations for some taxa are rare and large-scale surveys are time consuming and extremely costly. Here, we present 36 records of 7 cetacean species (Balaenoptera brydei, B. musculus subspp., Delphinus
delphis, Globicephala sp., Grampus griseus, Physeter macrocephalus, Pseudorca crassidens) in the New Caledonia Basin, Tasman Sea, along with their associated biological and environmental data. Data were derived from a platform
of opportunity during a seismic survey that ran between December 2015 and March 2016, inclusively. The two most frequently encountered species were sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus, 13 sightings, 5 acoustic detections) and blue whales (Balaenoptera
musculus subspp., 8 visual detections). All encountered species are known to occur in New Zealand waters at least occasionally, based on historical sightings and stranding records. However, data presented here are the first cetacean records for this specific
area and demonstrate that seismic vessels can act as a platform of opportunity for studying cetacean distribution in poorly accessible areas. Such data will aid future research efforts including species distribution models on cetaceans in the South Pacific.
Citation: Peters, K. J. and K. A. Stockin
(2021). "Cetacean sighting records in the New Caledonia Basin, Tasman Sea, New Zealand." New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research: 1-15.
The paper is available at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00288330.2020.1867201
Alternatively, please email me at k.peters@massey.ac.nz to
request a pdf.
All the best,
Katharina
Katharina J. Peters, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Cetacean Ecology Research Group | School of Natural and Computational Sciences | Massey University
Private Bag 102 904, North Shore, Auckland 0745, New Zealand
