Marine mammals

Project "Broad-scale marine spatial planning of mammal corridors & protected areas in Wider Caribbean & Southeast & Northeast Pacific" (2010-2012).

The mapping tool developed by the SPAW-RAC allows the display of different kinds of information about marine mammals in the Wider Caribbean Region (distribution, species richness, threats, protection). The datalayers that can be used by the tool have been built in the framework of the LifeWeb project (see more details below).

To access the mapping tool, please click on the link below:

Access the application

Then, you can choose one of the proposed base maps as well as one or several datalayers. As the different layers are superimposed, it is not possible to display more than five together.

You also have the possibility to add a title and eventually to print your map (the title and legends will appear on the final output).

The LifeWeb project

The two and a half year UNEP-Spain Lifeweb project aims to assist countries develop and apply cross-sectoral ecosystem approaches to management of human threats to marine mammals. The inter-regional initiative was launched by UNEP in June 2010 through financial support from the Government of Spain under the UNEP-Spain Partnership for the LifeWeb Initiative. Initial activities and outputs include mapping of critical marine mammal habitats and regional-scale migration routes together with socio- economic information on human activities to underpin broad-scale spatial planning and management of human impacts on large marine mammals in Caribbean and Southeast and Northeast Pacific waters. The project further aims to assist planners and managers initiate transboundary management and governance of marine resources via capacity building and technical guidance on marine spatial planning.

• The SPAW-RAC mapping application presents the outputs of component 1 (mapping) for the Wider Caribbean Region which are organized into four categories :
•  distribution maps of the 25 marine mammals species encompassed in the project ;
•  maps displaying the species richness in the WCR ;
•  maps representing the major threats and impacts of human activities ;
•  maps that report the main protection measures that have been put in place for marine mammals throughout the region.
• All the maps were prepared and produced by GRID-Arendal (Jean-Nicolas POUSSART), with the assistance, for the distribution and species richness maps, of the Whales and Dolphins Conservation Society (Kristin KASCHNER) and of a number of experts led by Dr Randall REEVES.

Accurate species identification of marine mammals is key to improving our knowledge about them, including their distribution, natural history and the causes of their deaths. Marine mammals face many human-related challenges. Entanglement in active and discarded fishing gear poses a serious threat. Where their ranges overlap with human activities, marine mammals may also suffer from disturbance, vessel collision and exposure to contaminants, as well as loss of feeding, mating and nursery habitats. An impediment to marine mammal conservation is the scarcity of knowledge about their normal habitat, diet, behavior and demographics, and how human impacts affect these critical factors. Our principal hope is that this field guide will assist in correctly identifying stranded marine mammals, and that associated research will lead to an increased understanding of their lives, both for the sake of ‘filling the gaps’ of our knowledge and to design better conservation measures to protect them in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR).

A stranded marine mammal is defined as a marine mammal found dead on the beach or one that is alive but in a helpless position; for example, one that comes ashore ill, weak or simply lost. Every year thousands of whales and dolphins are found stranded alive or dead on beaches all over the world. They may be alone or in groups. Some animals are old or unwell, but many of them are young and otherwise in good health. This is a natural phenomenon that has been recorded for centuries. The mechanisms behind such events, however, remain one of the great mysteries of the animal kingdom.

Single strandings are generally considered the result of normal mortality, disease processes or associated with human actions. Regardless of whether they strand alive or dead, single-stranded animals soon die. The expression mass-stranded generally refers to a simultaneous stranding of two or more cetaceans of the same species, other than a female and her calf. Mass strandings are harder to understand. They occur when a group of toothed whales come ashore alive. Such animals rapidly encounter serious problems with sunburn, dehydration and other aspects of exposure. Some mass strandings (i.e., beaked whales) exhibit a broader distribution in time and space than typical mass strandings, which are generally confined to a specific area.

This guide is produced by ECCN:

The Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network (ECCN) is a regional volunteer organization that tracks sightings and strandings of whales and dolphins in the Eastern Caribbean (the Lesser Antilles). Through research and education, ECCN’s mission is to gain community support for the protection of resident and migratory whales and dolphins and their critical marine habitats. ECCN has been a primary contributor in the inception and development of the Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Mammals (MMAP) of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Protocol for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW). Since 2005, ECCN has provided Marine Mammal Stranding Response Training Workshops in the Eastern Caribbean as well as the French and Dutch Antilles.

Form to report on marine mammals (cetaceans) landings.

The form is based on material from Eastern Caribbean Cetacean Network (ECCN). See here for the whale stranding fieldguide.

The Bonaire Coastal Dolphin Project was launched in February 2008 in collaboration with STINAPA and CIEE Research Station Bonaire.

This is the first photo-identification catalogue for botllenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Bonaire. 

In September 2016, the West Indies distinct population segment (DPS) of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), was delisted under the US Endangered Species Act. This DPS covers all of the Caribbean breeding grounds. However, growing evidence suggests the West Indies DPS contains more than one breeding population. In response to these changes in the status of humpback whales and evidence supporting more than one breeding population in the West Indies, we formed the Caribbean Humpback Acoustic Monitoring Programme (CHAMP). This research program leverages and expands on networks already established in the Caribbean to promote and enhance collaborative research on the biology of humpback whales and establish a robust monitoring program, focusing first on passive acoustic monitoring. CHAMP is a multi-national program which includes researchers, government officials, non-governmental organizations, resource managers, and others in Aruba, Bonaire, the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and the United States.

During the HNLMS 'TYDEMAN' bathymetric expedition on the Saba Bank, April - May 1996, two observers spent 7 weeks on board and to collect data on the distribution of
seabirds, marine mammals, and human activities (fishing, shipping). The results show that the Saba Bank has a bird fauna that is relatively rich as compared with the surrounding seas, whilst the birds seem to be concentrated along the edges of the Bank. Observed cetaceans included three dolphin and one whale species. The bird and cetacean observations were made during a transitional season in which groups of animals are migrating into the area whilst others are migrating out.
Human activities included fishing (the distribution of fish pots was determined, and the activities of a few fishermen observed) and shipping. Especially the observation of large
tankers anchoring close to the edge of the Bank in areas where coral reefs occur, was identified as a threat.

The report presents the primary results of an opportunistic project which has yielded many rough but valuable data about the Saba Bank in April-May. These data are available
for future management of the Saba Bank. The preliminary elaboration of the data in this report confirm the importance of especially the edges of the the Saba Bank for birds and
suggest the Bank being a feeding area for populations that breed on the neighbouring islands. Together with the observations of different species of cetaceans, the results
confirm the idea that the Saba Bank has considerable importance or the marine biodiversity in the region of the leeward Antilles. The position of the Saba Bank, partly
within the territorial waters of the Netherlands Antilles but completely within the limits of a hypothetical Exclusive Economic Zone, offers a great promise that protection (and sustainable use) of these natural values can be legally effected.

A dedicated Saba Bank Symposium was organised by the University of Wageningen in December 2016. The Symposium was held in Den Helder and brought together researchers and conservationists from throughout the Kingdom to share their knowledge and to provide an overview of the current state of scientific knowledge about the Netherland’s largest and most remote National Park.

Among others, presentations were given on the following topics:

• Where does our interest in Saba Bank come from? by Paul Hoetjes
• State of the reefs: 3 expeditions to Saba Bank by Erik Meesters
• Fish and fisheries at Saba Bank by Martin de Graaf
• Importance of Saba Bank for local communities, by Kai Wulf
• Research by NIOZ on the Saba Bank, by Fleur van Duyl
• Coral diversity and historical collections of Saba Bank, by Bert Hoeksema
• Shark habitat use, by Erwin Winter
• Listening to the Bank: whales and dolphins, by Dick de Haan

The Symposium ended with a panel discussion on the sustainable use of the Saba Bank and what is needed to protect the Saba Bank for the future.

We have done our best to capture the wealth of information presented at the symposium for you in our BioNews letter and hope, that like us, you are impressed by the depth and diversity of the work that has been done to explore and document our largest National Park: The Saba Bank.

To read this interactive Pdf, please make sure to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. We recommend you to open BioNews in full screen.  In case you do not have this program, please click here to download. Feel free to email research@DCNAnature.org in case you experience any issues downloading the program so we can assist you.

BioNews is produced by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

We have some wonderful news to share! The magnificent humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have returned for their four-to five-month long stay in the waters of Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten, which are located in a key humpback breeding area. After feeding in the cold Artic waters throughout summer, humpback whales migrate south to the Caribbean each winter to breed and give birth. They populate the waters of our windward islands each year from around January to May. Occasionally (sub- adult) Humpbacks are also spotted o the coast of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, but much less frequently (Aruba Marine Mammal Foundation, STINAPA Bonaire, Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network Foundation). 

This news article was published in BioNews 22

BioNews is produced by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Cetacean monitroing in the Dutch Caribbean

This news article was published in BioNews 17.

BioNews is produced by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The Antillean Island chain is a known breeding and calving ground for North Atlantic humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). However, while most research efforts for this species have focused on the largest aggregation of whales, located on Silver Bank, off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, there are still significant knowledge gaps with respect to humpback whale movements along the Antillean Island chain. Even less is known about the spatio-temporal distribution of other marine mammal and fish species in the region. This report summarizes analysis results of acoustic data (10- 8000 Hz effective analysis bandwidth recorded at a 25% duty cycle), recorded on the north east of Saba Bank from October 2011 to April 2012. The results show the consistent presence of humpback whales in the vicinity of Saba Bank during their winter breeding season, occasional presence of minke whales and the presence of sound producing fish assemblages. Humpback whale song occurred from the end of December to the end of the recording period in April. From February to April humpback whale song was recorded on more than 89 % of all recording days, though it occurred most frequently in March. All recording days in March showed song presence, with an average of 8.5 ± 2.8 (mean ± SE) hours of recorded song per day. In contrast, for minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) 48 pulse trains (n = 32) were detected less frequently between February to April 2012. A variety of unidentified fish sounds were present throughout the recordings. Although the occurrence of these sounds was not quantified, notable fish choruses (e.g. grouper spp. Epinephelinae) consisting of one to two distinct pulsed calls in the frequency range of 100 - 600 Hz were documented from October to December 2011 in particular. The results of this pilot project highlight the feasibility of using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to explore year-round marine mammal and fish presence and distribution in otherwise understudied and remote field sites.