There are many humpbacks for which we have long sighting histories, and the whale presented here helps to illustrate how several collaborators using photo-Id and contributing to a central photo catalog, can contribute a great deal to our knowledge of a species. Through matching and exchange of data, collaborators can learn about their movements and habitat use over time. In...
On September 8 four of us-RS, David Gaspar, Rachel Sullivan-Lord and Alex Borowicz joined the Sedna IV crew to carry out a survey of the southern St Lawrence from the tip of Gaspe to Cabot Strait and out along the Laurentian Channel as far as St Pierre&Miquelon-the French islands just off Nfld's Burin Peninsula. We were principally searching for blue...
An image taken during Brian Kot's work on minke whales in the Mingan Islands.
The first humpback whales arrived shortly after mid-July by way of X-Mas (H493) and Ébène (H042), two long-known females, and a first tag was deployed on X-Mas. H493 X-Mas Other fin whales later joined Milady (F299): Perroquet (F045), followed by Topper (F028) two long-known males as well as Curly (F002), a big beautiful female known since 1982....
Amongst the majestic large whales inhabiting the waters off Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan are some smaller-bodied cetaceans that are no less dynamic and mysterious. Although they do not always get as much attention as the massive blue whales and acrobatic humpbacks, the Atlantic white-sided (Lagenorhynchus acutus) and white-beaked (L. albirostris) dolphins are some of the most colorful and energetic marine mammals in the...
It's been a slow field season in Gaspé. Just as our collaborators are reporting few whales in the Bay of Fundy and the St. Lawrence estuary, we have had few sightings of any species around the Gaspé Peninsula. Given the few whales, we were excited when, even in wind and rough seas on the 30th of August, we found a...
As you know we began collecting blue whale photo-ID data in the St Lawrence in 1979 and have added to the western North Atlantic (WNA) catalog, which now includes 475 individuals, each year since. The research effort has been for the most part quite steady, particularly along the St Lawrence North Shore. From the late 90s on we have increased...
July 6, 2014 MICS's 2014 field season is slowly gaining momentum. The ice left the northeast St. Lawrence much later this year that in the recent past with the last break-up in the Strait of Belle Isle finally occurring during the first and second weeks of June. In the past month we have had some adequate stretches of good weather...
Join of a small group lead by Richard Sears founder of MICS, to discover the blue whales of the Azores. This session is geared to learn more about eastern North Atlantic blue whales, which pass by the Azores on their way North to Icelandic and Norwegian waters. Fieldwork will include photo-identification, behavioural observations, and acoustic recordings in order to better...
December 12, 2014 Dear Friends of MICS, Since 1979, our principal goal has been to pursue long-term ecological studies of marine mammals in the St. Lawrence ecosystem, with emphasis on the rorqual whales-lead by studies of the endangered blue whale. We are preparing for our 37th field season in 2015 and we need your support order to meet the challenge...
