Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to announce the publication of the following article:
Barratclough, Ashley, Paul D. Jepson, Philip K. Hamilton, Carolyn A. Miller,
Kenady Wilson, and Michael J. Moore. "How much does a swimming, underweight,
entangled right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) weigh? Calculating the weight at
sea, to facilitate accurate dosing of sedatives to enable disentanglement."
Marine Mammal Science (2014).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12132/full
Summary
Fishing gear entanglement represents
a significant source of anthropogenic mortality in North Atlantic right whales
(Eubalaena glacialis). The current
methods of photo identification and post-mortem examination of stranded
carcasses, give a good indication of the prevalence of entanglements.
Consistent monitoring of the trends in entanglements has demonstrated a rise in
the number of North Atlantic right whales affected. The implications of this
trend are of serious concern in an already endangered species. Disentanglement
of whales from
fishing gear is one potential mitigation option, however approaching a
distressed whale is challenging. Sedation has facilitated the approach, however
accurate sedative dosing is essential to prevent fatalities. Accurate body
weight estimation is therefore required to calculate the correct dose. By
examining the post-mortem data of whale morphometrics and performing a step
wise linear regression analysis relating length and girth measurements, we
established
a formula to estimate the weight of North Atlantic right whales at sea.
If you are interested but cannot access this article online lease email me at
ashley_248...@yahoo.com for a pdf reprint.
Best Wishes
Ashley Barratclough
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