Are Nova Scotia and St. Lawrence fin whales the same animals?

Although Fin whales are present throughout most of the North Atlantic, their movements and population structures are not very well known. In summer, western North Atlantic fin whales are frequently observed in the Gulf of Maine, in the Bay of Fundy, in the Gulf and Estuary of the St. Lawrence and off Nova Scotia. Do the same animals travel from one area to another?

To go through the looking glass

When fin whales were particularly abundant off Halifax in the summer of 1997, 57 individual animals were photo-identified from aboard a whale-watching vessel. Photos of these animals were compared with various western North Atlantic fin whale photo-identification catalogues.

In short...

Of the 57 fin whales identified off Halifax, nine had already been photographed in the northern portion of the Gulf of Maine and in the Bay of Fundy. Three had been photographed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Of these three, one had also been photographed in the St. Lawrence Estuary. One individual was matched with both the Gulf of Maine catalogue and the Gulf of St. Lawrence catalogue. Fin whales were exceptionally plentiful near Halifax in 1997, a phenomenon that could be explained by an abundance of prey. There were in fact reports that large amounts of herring, sand lance and euphausids were present in this sector that year. By contrast, fin whale observations in the St. Lawrence Estuary were rare in 1997. This study therefore suggests that in the summer of 1997, certain fin whales that usually visited the St. Lawrence Estuary chose to stake advantage of abundant prey off Nova Scotia, and remained there. It appears that North Atlantic fin whale movements could be more variable than previously believed.

Project collaborators:

Amanda Coakes¹, Shannon Gowans², Peter Simard³, Janie Giard⁴, Courtney Vashro⁵ and Richard Sears⁶

¹Dalhousie University ²Eckerd College ³Blind Bay Cetacean Studies ⁴GREMM ⁵Allied Whale ⁵Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS)

Partners:

The Dalhousie University Student Union, Dalhousie Science Society, Bay Ferries and Peggy’s Cove Water Tours.

Other research projects