Winter occurrence of killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (2015-2018)

Winter occurrence of killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (2015-2018) This study constitutes the first quantitative assessment of winter use of the northern Strait of Georgia by killer whales, which presents a substantial contribution to the limited knowledge of killer whale habitat use in British Columbia during the winter. Passive acoustic monitoring revealed extensive use of this area by three sympatric killer whale populations from November to April over three seasons. This study also evaluated the effect of using multiple simultaneous acoustic recorders to characterize killer whale habitat use, and developed a data-driven approach to define acoustic residency time. 2023-07-11 Fisheries and Oceans Canada katherine.gavrilchuk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca Science and Technologykiller whaleOrcinus orcaorcaNorthern resident populationSouthern resident populationBigg’sWest Coast Transient populationpassive acoustic monitoringresidencywinterhabitat use Data DictionaryXLSX https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/data-dictionary.xlsx 1_Effect_of_multiple_recordersCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/1_effect_of_multiple_recorders.csv 2_Regional_detection_days_per_unit_effortCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/2_regional_detection_days_per_unit_effort.csv 3a_Lagged_detection_rates_by_siteCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/3a_lagged_detection_rates_by_site.csv 3b_Lagged_detection_rates_regionalCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/3b_lagged_detection_rates_regional.csv 4_Diel_patterns_in_callingCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/4_diel_patterns_in_calling.csv 5_Observed_vs_expected_detections_by_siteCSV https://api-proxy.edh.azure.cloud.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/catalogue/records/9dab95ae-9fc1-4996-a56e-ce4b98377978/attachments/5_observed_vs_expected_detections_by_site.csv

This study constitutes the first quantitative assessment of winter use of the northern Strait of Georgia by killer whales, which presents a substantial contribution to the limited knowledge of killer whale habitat use in British Columbia during the winter. Passive acoustic monitoring revealed extensive use of this area by three sympatric killer whale populations from November to April over three seasons. This study also evaluated the effect of using multiple simultaneous acoustic recorders to characterize killer whale habitat use, and developed a data-driven approach to define acoustic residency time.

  • Publisher - Current Organization Name: Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  • Publisher - Organization Section Name: Science Branch/Ecosystem Science Division/Aquatic Ecosystems and Marine Mammal Science Section
  • Contributor: James Pilkington, Eva H. Stredulinsky, Katherine Gavrilchuk, Sheila Thornton, John K.B. Ford, Thomas Doniol-Valcroze
  • Licence: Open Government Licence - Canada

Data and Resources

Contact Information

Electronic Mail Address: katherine.gavrilchuk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

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