Scientists aboard the Bell M. Shimada keep an eye out for whales. One scientist hopes to help predict where whales will show up by studying the food they eat.
Scientists aboard the Bell M. Shimada keep an eye out for whales. One scientist hopes to help predict where whales will show up by studying the food they eat.
Whale populations recovering from historical whaling are particularly vulnerable to incidental mortality and disturbance caused by growing ocean industrialization. Several distinct populations of rorqual whales (including humpback, blue, and fin whales) migrate and feed off the coast of Oregon, USA where spatial overlap with human activities are on the rise. Effective mitigation of conflicts requires better foundational understanding of spatial and temporal habitat use patterns to inform conservation management. Based on a year-round, multi-platform distance sampling dataset (2016-2021, 177 survey days, 754 groups observed), this study generated density models to describe and predict seasonal distribution of rorqual whales in Oregon. Phenology analysis of sightings revealed a peak of humpback whale and blue whale density over the Oregon continental shelf in August and September respectively, and higher fin whale density in the winter (December). Additionally, we compared rorqual sighti
A woman has died and officials have suspended a search for a man who is missing after a fishing vessel sank in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles off the coast of Florence, Ore., the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.
NORTH BEND, Ore. (AP) A woman has died and officials have suspended a search for a man who is missing after a fishing vessel sank in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles (56 kilometers) off the coast of Florence, Oregon, the U.S.