Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the recent publication of the following paper on the winter sighting of a North Atlantic right whale from the western population in the Azores:

Silva MA, Steiner L, Cascão I, Cruz MJ, Prieto R, Cole T, Hamilton PK and Baumgartner M. 2012. Winter sighting of a known western North Atlantic right whale in the Azores. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 12(1): 65-69.

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Abstract

A right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) from the western North Atlantic population, sighted in the Azores, was subsequently found to have moved

back to the northwest Atlantic. The whale was sighted in the Azores on 5 January 2009 travelling in a west-south westerly direction at a constant

speed. A photographic match was found to an adult female in the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalogue. The whale’s previous last sighting, on 24

September 2008 in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, implies movement to the Azores of at least 3,320km in 101 days. It was subsequently resighted in

the Bay of Fundy on 2 September 2009, 237 days after being seen in the Azores. This appears to be the only documented evidence of a western

North Atlantic right whale outside its normal range in winter, and provides additional evidence of the potential for interbreeding between western

North Atlantic right whales and the remnant eastern population.

Kindest regards,

Mónica Silva

Mónica Almeida e Silva

Post Doctoral Fellow

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Centro do IMAR da Universidade dos Açores
Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas
9901-862 Horta, Portugal
Tel: (351) 292207800
Fax: (351) 292207811
E-mail: monica@uac.pt
http://www.horta.uac.pt/projectos/cetamarh/
http://www.portulano.org/wkit/index.html
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Biology Department, MS#33
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
E-mail: msilva@whoi.edu
http://www.whoi.edu/