A Photographic Catalog of Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, frOIll the Central Gulf of Alaska to the Southeastern Bering Sea

Dahlheim, Marilyn E. (1997) A Photographic Catalog of Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, frOIll the Central Gulf of Alaska to the Southeastern Bering Sea. NOAA/National Marine Fisheries Service, (NOAA Technical Report NMFS,131)

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Abstract

In 1992 and 1993, researchers from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory initiated photo-identification studies on Alaskan killer whales, Orcinus orca. Waters from Kodiak Island west to the central and eastern Aleutian Islands and southeastern Bering Sea were surveyed. A total of 289 individual whales were identified. A photographic record of the whales encountered during these surveys is presented. When photographs of the 289 individual whales were compared among various regions in Alaska (Prince William Sound and Southeast Alaska) and areas outside Alaska (British Columbia, Washington, and California), 11 matches were found. The count is conservative because the 1992 and 1993 surveys were limited in geographical range, restricted to summer periods, and whales may have been missed along the survey trackline. Future research incorporating both photoidentification studies and line transect surveys will provide reliable abundance estimates of Alaskan killer whales. (PDF file contains 58 pages.)

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