AFSC/NMML: North Pacific right whale aerial surveys in the southeastern Bering Sea, 2008-2009.

As part of an inter-agency agreement between the National Marine Mammal Laboratory and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, aerial surveys of the North Aleutian Basin and sourtheastern Bering Sea were conducted from 24 July to 28 August 2008 and 14 July to 25 August 2009. Both surveys were conducted from an Aerocommander 690A. In 2008, the survey design consisted of broadscale transects covering the waters from Bristol Bay west to the Pribilof Islands. The survey covered a total of 5,821 nmi (10,782 km) on-effort, 471 nmi (872 km) transit and crosslegs, and off-effort accounted for 837 nmi (1551 km). There were a total of 263 sightings (755 individuals) of 11 confirmed marine mammals species; these included right, humpback, fin and sei whales as well as killer whales, Dall's, and harbor porpoise, Pacific white-sided dolphins, fur seals, sea lions, walrus and sea otters. There were 10 sightings (12 individulas) of right whales recorded on 3 separate days. Six unique individuals were photo-identified and 4 matches were made between the aerial and vessel surveys. In 2009, the survey consisted of finescale transects over the critical habitat and an acoustic component was added to complement the visual survey. The survey covered a total of 2,590 nmi (4,800 km) on effort . There were a total of 124 sightings (213 individuals) of 3 confirmed marine mammal species, right, humpback and fin whales. There were 23 sightings (28 individuals) of right whales documented on 9 separate days. Seven unique individuals were photo-identified. Three matches were made to the 2008 survey. In all, the 2 year survey documented 10 unique North Pacific right whales.

The overall purpose of this study was to facilitate development of future oil and gas-related mitigation by asssessing the distribution, occurrence and habitat use of North Pacific right whales in the southeastern Bering Sea (North Aleutian Basin lease sale area and adjacent waters). The general objectives were to document the occurrence and distribution of right whales using fixed-winged aircraft, to locate whales and provide aerial support for satellite tagging, and to photo-identify individuals for abundance estimates and life history. Standard line transect and exploratory transect methods were used.

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