Explanipedia

Humpback whale genomes reflect the increased efficiency of commercial whaling Open

Fabrício Furni, Martine Bérubé, Marcos Suárez-Menéndez, Eduardo R. Secchi, Randall R. Reeves , et al. · 2025

Genetic diversity is declining globally, a trend that may particularly affect exploited populations that must adapt to rapid environmental change and other threats. Estimated genomic changes in effective population size mirrored known whal…

A Review of Science and Conservation Management for the Cumberland Sound Beluga Population Open

Randall R. Reeves, David C. Lee · 2024

For many centuries, belugas, or white whales (Delphinapterus leucas), have been a major source of subsistence and cultural identity for the Inuit living along the shores of Cumberland Sound, southeastern Baffin Island. During the late 1800…

Red‐list status and extinction risk of the world's whales, dolphins, and porpoises Open

Gill Braulik, Barbara L. Taylor, Gianna Minton, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Tim Collins , et al. · 2023

To understand the scope and scale of the loss of biodiversity, tools are required that can be applied in a standardized manner to all species globally, spanning realms from land to the open ocean. We used data from the International Union …

History of whaling in Trinidad and Tobago Open

Randall R. Reeves, Jalaludin Khan, Randi R. Olsen, Steven L. Swartz, Tim D. Smith · 2023

Shore whaling for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Trinidad represents a largely overlooked aspect of North Atlantic whaling history. Literature and archival sources were searched for information on the chronology, nature and ex…

Historical occurrence and distribution of humpback whales in the eastern and southern Caribbean Sea, based on data from American whaling logbooks Open

Randall R. Reeves, Steven L. Swartz, Sara E. Wetmore, Phillip J. Clapham · 2023

The best-known present-day wintering areas for the North Atlantic population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are in the northern West Indies, notably off the island of Hispaniola. However, it is known that in the nineteenth cen…

Historical catches of humpback whales in the North Atlantic Ocean: an overview of sources Open

Randall R. Reeves, Tim D. Smith · 2023

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have been taken in the North Atlantic since the 1600s in a variety of fisheries operating from the Arctic to the tropics. The relative importance of the humpback whale in these fisheries has varied.…

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) occurrence near the Cape Verde Islands, based on American 19th century whaling records Open

Randall R. Reeves, Phillip J. Clapham, Sara E. Wetmore · 2023

American 19th century whalers often passed through the Cape Verde Islands (CVI) during the boreal winter and some of them spent a few weeks or months hunting humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the bays and near-shore waters of the…

Migration of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) between the Cape Verde Islands and Iceland Open

Frederick W. Wenzel, Beatrice Jann, J. Allen, Manuel Carrillo, S. Hanquet , et al. · 2023

The movements of individual humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) can be tracked by matching photographs of the distinctive markings on the ventral sides of their tail flukes. During the winter-spring seasons of 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, …

Distribution of North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena japonica) as shown by 19th and 20th century whaling catch and sighting records Open

Phillip J. Clapham, Caroline Good, Stephen Quinn, Randall R. Reeves, James E. Scarff , et al. · 2023

North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena japonica) were extensively exploited in the 19th century, and their recovery was further retarded (severely so in the eastern population) by illegal Soviet catches in the 20th century, primarily in the…

History of Bermuda shore whaling, mainly for humpback whales Open

Randall R. Reeves, Matthew McKenzie, Tim D. Smith · 2023

From its first colonisation in the early 1600s, Bermuda was known as a potentially profitable whaling site. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) were common in coastal waters during the late winter and spring (March-May); sperm whales …

Trend in aerial counts of beluga or white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in Bristol Bay, Alaska, 1993-2005 Open

Lloyd F. Lowry, Kathryn J. Frost, Alex Zerbini, Douglas P. DeMaster, Randall R. Reeves · 2023

Thirty-eight aerial surveys of beluga or white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) were conducted in Bristol Bay, Alaska, during six different years between 1993 and 2005. Belugas were sighted mainly close to shore in the upper parts of Nushaga…

Observations of western gray whales by ship-based whalers in the 19th century Open

Randall R. Reeves, Tim D. Smith, Elizabeth Josephson · 2023

Animals belonging to the small, endangered population of western gray whales (Echrichtius robustus) are observed today primarily during the summer open-water season in feeding areas off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia. Th…

Sightings of a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) in the Gulf of Maine and its interactions with other baleen whales Open

Corey M. Accardo, Laura C. Ganley, Moira W. Brown, PeteR A. Duley, John C. George , et al. · 2023

Bowhead whales generally migrate into high Arctic waters in the summer months and move to lower latitudes in the wintertime. During the 1800s and early 1900s commercial whaling greatly reduced the numbers of bowhead whales in waters adjace…

Cetacean Sociality, Reproduction, and Conservation Open

Sarah L. Mesnick, Randall R. Reeves, Paul R. Wade, Philippa Brakes, Taylor A. Hersh · 2023

The world’s cetaceans (like most of biodiversity) are in crisis, and the need for well-informed conservation action has never been greater. Scientific advancements over the last few decades have provided much insight on the reproductive an…

Range-Wide Conservation Efforts for the Critically Endangered Atlantic Humpback Dolphin (Sousa teuszii) Open

Gianna Minton, Ghalia Abel, Tim Collins, Edem A. Eniang, Heidrun Frisch-Nwakanma , et al. · 2022

The Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) is a critically endangered cetacean species endemic to coastal Atlantic waters of Africa. Its preference for shallow coastal habitat renders it vulnerable to incidental capture (bycatch) in non…

Editorial: Assessment Approaches to Support Bycatch Management for Marine Mammals Open

André E. Punt, Tessa B. Francis, Jeffrey E. Moore, Randall R. Reeves · 2022

EDITORIAL article Front. Mar. Sci., 27 May 2022Sec. Marine Megafauna https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.928127

Bowhead whales and whaling in the central and eastern Canadian Arctic, 1970-2021 Open

Randall R. Reeves, David S. Lee · 2022

The history of bowhead whaling and hunt management in the eastern and central Canadian Arctic is reviewed. Subsistence hunting of bowhead whales by Inuit resumed in the 1990s under co-management arrangements that were part of land-claims s…

mmrefpoints: Projecting long-term marine mammalabundance with bycatch Open

Margaret C. Siple, André E. Punt, Tessa B. Francis, Philip S. Hammond, Dennis Heinemann , et al. · 2022

A review of climate change effects on marine mammals in United States waters: Past predictions, observed impacts, current research and conservation imperatives Open

Frances M. D. Gulland, Jason D. Baker, Marian Howe, Erin LaBrecque, Lauri Leach , et al. · 2022

Cetacean Conservation and Management Strategies Open

Randall R. Reeves · 2022

This chapter offers some personal thoughts and reflections on strategies taken to manage human activities and limit or lessen their impacts on whales, dolphins, and porpoises. OverkillOverkill in one form or another, whether by targeted hu…

Estimating Bycatch Mortality for Marine Mammals: Concepts and Best Practices Open

Jeffrey E. Moore, Dennis Heinemann, Tessa B. Francis, Philip S. Hammond, Kristy J. Long , et al. · 2021

Fisheries bycatch is the greatest current source of human-caused deaths of marine mammals worldwide, with severe impacts on the health and viability of many populations. Recent regulations enacted in the United States under the Fish and Fi…

Best Practices for Assessing and Managing Bycatch of Marine Mammals Open

Paul R. Wade, Kristy J. Long, Tessa B. Francis, André E. Punt, Philip S. Hammond , et al. · 2021

Bycatch in marine fisheries is the leading source of human-caused mortality for marine mammals, has contributed to substantial declines of many marine mammal populations and species, and the extinction of at least one. Schemes for evaluati…

Polar Research Special Cluster—Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas): knowledge from the wild, human care and TEK Open

Kit M. Kovacs, Tracy A. Romano, Randall R. Reeves, Roderick C. Hobbs, Geneviève Desportes , et al. · 2021

Estimating the Abundance of Marine Mammal Populations Open

Philip S. Hammond, Tessa B. Francis, Dennis Heinemann, Kristy J. Long, Jeffrey E. Moore , et al. · 2021

Motivated by the need to estimate the abundance of marine mammal populations to inform conservation assessments, especially relating to fishery bycatch, this paper provides background on abundance estimation and reviews the various methods…

Shifting baselines of cetacean conservation in Europe Open

Giovanni Bearzi, Randall R. Reeves · 2021

Within just one human lifetime, the underlying motivation to conserve whales, dolphins and porpoises has shifted from being purely practical and anthropogenic to something much broader, reflecting a desire to protect populations as well as…

Annex A-C: List of Participants, Agenda, List of Documents Open

Miguel Iñíguez, Mike Double, A.A. Robinson, Elanor Bell, John B. McKinlay , et al. · 2021

How to cite: International Whaling Commission, 2021. Report of the Scientific Committee: Annex A-C. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. Suppl. 22: 123-139.

Minding the Data-Gap Trap: Exploring Dynamics of Abundant Dolphin Populations Under Uncertainty Open

Erin Ashe, Rob Williams, Christopher W. Clark, Christine Erbe, Leah R. Gerber , et al. · 2021

Preventing declines in common species is key to sustaining the structure and function of marine ecosystems. Yet for many common marine mammals, including oceanic dolphins, statistical power to detect declines remains low due to patchy dist…

Can we manage marine mammal bycatch effectively in low‐data environments? Open

André E. Punt, Margaret C. Siple, Tessa B. Francis, Philip S. Hammond, Dennis Heinemann , et al. · 2020

Determining acceptable rates of human‐caused mortality in low‐data situations is a concern for many taxa world‐wide. An established approach for determining acceptable levels of human‐caused mortality of marine mammals and other species of…

Assessing pinniped bycatch mortality with uncertainty in abundance and post-release mortality: A case study from Chile Open

André E. Punt, Maritza Sepúlveda, Margaret C. Siple, Jeffrey Moore, Tessa B. Francis , et al. · 2020

Overview of catch history, historic abundance and distribution of right whales in the western North Atlantic and in Cintra Bay, West Africa Open

Randall R. Reeves · 2020

The catch history of the North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in the western North Atlantic has been studied in a series ofprojects. Data from European archives on early Basque whaling, centred in the Strait of Belle Isle, sho…

Randall R. Reeves YOU? Author Swipe