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353
INTRODUCTION
During the 20th century, blue whales (Balaenoptera
musculus) became a principal target of the whaling industry
worldwide (Clapham et al., 1999). Off Chile, the first
commercial catches occurred in 1908 from a land station in
San Carlos, Corral (Pastene and Quiroz, 2010). Between
1926 and 1971, catches of almost 3,000 blue whales were
taken off Chile, including 1,129 taken in the 1960s
(Aguayo-Lobo et al., 1998).
Until recently, only two subspecies of blue whale have
been recognised in the Southern Hemisphere: the pygmy
blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) in the subAntarctic zone and the Antarctic blue whale (B. m.
intermedia) that summers in the Antarctic zone (Rice, 1998).
Blue whales in Chilean waters have been classified as either
Antarctic blue whales or pygmy blue whales (Aguayo,
1974). Branch et al. (2007a) reported that adult female blue
whales taken off Chile are intermediate in length between
the total lengths of the two subspecies recognised in the
Southern Hemisphere and may represent a unique population
or a different subspecies. In addition, LeDuc et al. (2007)
analysed genetic samples from off southwestern Australia,
the southeastern Pacific (Chile), and the Antarctic and found
that the genetic differentiation between Antarctic blue whales
and pygmy blue whales was not markedly greater than
between Australian and Chilean blue whales. Although more
data are needed to resolve this question, the Scientific
Committee of the International Whaling Commission (2007)
agreed that the blue whales off Isla Grande de Chiloe (= Isla
de Chiloe) differ from Antarctic blue whales and therefore
need to be managed as a separate population.
Outside Antarctic waters, aggregation areas used by blue
Centro de Conservacin Cetacea (CCC) Casilla 19178 Correo 19, Santiago, Chile.
Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, 5 Holway Avenue, Provincetown, MA 02657, USA.
3
Southwest Fisheries Center, NOAA Fisheries, 1352 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove, California, 93950, USA.
2
354
Fig. 1. Study area showing the five sub-areas: A = south Araucania and Los
Rios; B = northern Los Lagos; C = west Isla de Chiloe; D = west
Corcovado Gulf; E = east Corcovado Gulf.
355
356
Fig. 2. Aerial surveys: (a) tracks 2005 and 2006; (b) tracks 2007 and 2008; (c) tracks 2009 and 2010; and (d)
sightings of blue whale groups from 2005 to 2010.
357
Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
0
0
223.0
155.6
0
0
227.8
94.4
255.0
192.6
275.9
202.8
220.4
85.2
255.6
229.6
490.8
339.3
0
0
225.9
70.38
107.8
133.3
0
0
225.9
111.1
112.2
118.3
0/0
0/0
9/12
16/27
8/11
4/6
4/5
8/10
11/22
4/5
4/4
20/31
22/32
24/32
0/0
1/1
0/0
1/1
2/3
0/0
0/0
0/0
0
0
All years
378.6
1,247.6
1,620.8
537.5
567.6
49/71
85/126
2/2
2/3
Overall
4,352
138/203
39.5
169.4
31.4
20.8
14.5
39.6
49.9
46.9
15.6
87.1
44.8
70.7
0
14.2
0
7.5
8.8
0
0
0
39.3
52.4
3.7
5.3
31.7
Fig. 3. Blue whale relative abundance and distribution probability expressed as (a) SPUE and (b) kernel density using effortweighted data from 20052010 aerial surveys.
358
Year
Sampling period
(mo/d)
Number of
surveys
Hours of
observation
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
02/2503/15
02/0103/15
02/0404/15
02/0104/29
02/0104/30
02/0104/30
01/2504/30
21
8
12
17
17
12
17
17:35
29:13
67:15
94:54
93:33
68:55
81:39
2
25
70
142
171
82
129
3
58
112
188
270
124
182
4
11
54
89
76
54
75
0
1
8
26
39
6
25
2
4
27
27
10
4
85
453:04
621
937
363
1052
743
Total
Number of blue
whales
encountered
Groups of blue
whales
encountered
New photo-id
Re-sightings
within season
Re-sightings on
later years
1
One marine survey (10.25hr) in the Corcovado Gulf. 2Corresponds to 84 individuals catalogued. 3Thirteen individuals have been seen in three different
years and three in four different years.
359
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank the Directorate General of the Maritime
Territory and Merchant Marine (DIRECTEMAR) from the
Chilean Navy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their
Official Support to the Alfaguara Project. We would also like
to thank the valuable support of Rufford Foundation, Rufford
Small Grants Foundation, Mohamed Bin Zayed Species
Conservation Fund, Global Ocean, Marisla Foundation and
Cetacean Society International. We would also like to
express our special gratitude to the northwestern coastal
communities of Isla de Chiloe, in particular the Puihuil
community, and our skipper Mr. Jose Aviles as well as the
assistant with photo-identification matching work, Ms.
Priscila Escobar.
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Date received: October 2011
Date accepted: November 2011