Tagged whales confirm the Gulf of California as a wintering ground
Five blue whales tagged in 1999 spend the winter in the Gulf of California, establishing it as a wintering ground for the eastern North Pacific population rather than a place they merely pass. Photo-identification and genetic work later show that females in different reproductive states, including nursing mothers with calves, return to the gulf, and that mothers and calves prefer the coastal waters around Loreto.
Observed — measured or witnessed, with the observation cited.
Subjects
- Gulf of California · maritime region · Mexico · not located
- Eastern North Pacific Blue Whale Migration · route · Northeast Pacific, from the Gulf of Alaska to the eastern tropical Pacific · not located
- Satellite Telemetry Tagging of Large Whales · technology · Deployed on multiple blue whale populations · not located
- Bahia de Loreto National Park · protected_area · Mexico
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Blue whale satellite tagging programme, and state-space analysis of the resulting tracks
Transmitters were attached to 171 blue whales off California and in the Gulf of California between 1993 and 2008; a related analysis used 159 Argos tags deployed mainly off California in late summer between 1993 and 2007, of which 92 tracks exceeded seven days. Tagged whales moved south in winter to Baja California, the Gulf of California and waters at and west of the Costa Rica Dome; five whales tagged in 1999 wintered in the Gulf of California, identifying it as a wintering ground. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to these sources; neither the institute page nor the preprint could be fetched.
Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University (Mate and colleagues); with Bailey and colleagues in Endangered Species Research · tagging 1993-2008; analysis published 2009 · Partly verified
https://mmi.oregonstate.edu/wtg/research-projects/blue-whale/ ; Bailey et al., "Behavioural estimation of blue whale movements in the Northeast Pacific from state-space model analysis of satellite tracks", Endangered Species Research (2009), preprint at https://www.whoi.edu/cms/files/baileypreprint_bluewhale_57185.pdf
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California; with the Bahia de Loreto National Park record
The Gulf of California is a winter, calving and feeding area for northeastern Pacific blue whales that feed off California in summer; nursing mothers and calves show a particular preference for the coastal waters of Bahia de Loreto National Park, and females in different reproductive states return to the gulf. The park was established on 19 July 1996, covers 206,580.75 hectares of which about 88 percent is sea surface, and takes in the islands of Coronados, Del Carmen, Danzante, Montserrat and Santa Catalina. V55 verification basis: retrieved in search summary attributed to these sources; none was fetched.
PLOS ONE / PubMed Central; and the Bahia de Loreto National Park gazetteer and IWC Whale Watching Handbook case study · 2013 (population structure); park established 1996 · Partly verified
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591444/ ; https://wwhandbook.iwc.int/en/case-studies/mexico-loreto-bay
Recorded on Gulf of California
- Satellite tagging of eastern North Pacific blue whales begins
- Bahia de Loreto National Park is established
- Tagged whales confirm the Gulf of California as a wintering ground
- Pygmy blue whale movements between Australia and Indonesia are published
- Eastern North Pacific blue whales are estimated near carrying capacity
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data · 2023
- Eastern North Pacific blue whales are estimated near carrying capacity · 2015
- Pygmy blue whale movements between Australia and Indonesia are published · 2014
- Bahia de Loreto National Park is established · 1996-07-19
- Satellite tagging of eastern North Pacific blue whales begins · 1993