Abstract:
This paper examines sightings of dwarf minke whales during the SOWER cruises. A total of 12 sightings were made between 1994/95 and 2003/04, across a relatively wide latitude (37°S–62°S) but limited longitude, between IWC Management Area III (0–70°E) and V (130°E–170°W), with no sightings in Area I (0–60°W) or II (60°W–120°W). Despite this low number of sightings, most were close to the Antarctic Convergence at 58°S–65°S. There may be some seasonality in their southbound migration.
Description:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :
We thank the captains and crew who operated the SOWER cruises and collected dwarf minke whale sightings data. We also thank the researchers who participated. The third author, Peter Best, unfortunately passed away on 22 April 2015. We wanted to include him as an author because he first proposed this paper and reviewed the first version. We sincerely thank his wife, Margaret Best, for her permission to include our good friend and colleague. We also thank Greg Donovan for his assistance with this manuscript.
