Scotia Arc IMMA

Size in Square Kilometres

614,480 km2

Qualifying Species and Criteria

Southern right whale – Eubalaena australis

Criterion C (2)

Humpback whale – Megaptera novaeangliae 

Criterion C (2)

Fin whale – Balaenoptera physalus 

Criterion A

Antarctic blue whale – Balaenoptera musculus intermedia

Criterion A

Sei whale – Balaenoptera borealis

Criterion A

Sperm whale – Physeter macrocephalus 

Criterion A

Marine Mammal Diversity 

Criterion D2

Arctocephalus gazella, Leptonychotes weddellii, Mirounga leonina, Hydrurga leptonyx,
Balaenoptera bonaerensis, Orcinus orca, Globicephala melas,
Lagenorhynchus cruciger, Hyperoodon planifrons

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Summary

The Scotia Arc comprises South Georgia, South Sandwich, South Orkney and South Shetland Islands, which are all fragmented remnants of what once formed a land bridge between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Large colonies of seals and seabirds breed at South Georgia, and the region supports important commercial fisheries for krill and various species of fish. For more information on the seals that breed in this IMMA, please see the summary for the South Georgia IMMA: https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/portfolio-item/south-georgia/

The region is dominated by the Antarctic circumpolar current, which transports nutrients and organisms, particularly krill, from the Antarctic Peninsula across the Scotia Sea to South Georgia. The area is known to serve as a rich seasonal feeding ground for Critically Endangered Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia), Vulnerable fin whales (B. physalus), Endangered sei whales (B. borealis) and Vulnerable sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). The area surrounding South Georgia includes an important feeding ground for the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) population that breeds off the coast of Argentina. Furthermore, the area northeast of South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands comprises an important foraging ground for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) from the population that breeds off the coast of Brazil.

Description of Qualifying Criteria

Criterion A – Species or Population Vulnerability

Antarctic blue whales are estimated to be at less than 2% of their pre-whaling abundance, and the population is classified as “Critically Endangered” in the IUCN Red List (Cooke et al. 2018). Both Fin and Sei whales are estimated to be at about 25% of their pre-exploitation levels in the Southern Hemisphere, and the species are considered “Vulnerable” and “Endangered”, respectively (Cooke et al. 2018). Catches of Blue whales in the Antarctic began from land stations on South Georgia in 1904 and peaked at over 30,000 per year in the 1931/32 season (Allison 2017), with the total historical kill being about 350,000 animals. An estimate of their numbers from Japanese surveys covering just half of the Antarctic (35°E to 145°W) south of 60° S is only 1,223 individuals (CV 0.35) in 2008 (Matsuoka and Hakamada 2014).  Over 725,000 Fin whales have been recorded caught in the Southern Hemisphere during 1905-76 (Allison 2017). For Fin whale the current circumpolar abundance remains highly uncertain until all existing data are worked up and more data are collected from the zone 50°- 60°S. However, for some areas in the Scotia Arc, Viquerat and Herr (2017) estimated abundances of about 500 and 800 Fin whales around Elephant Island and the South Orkneys, respectively.

Over 200,000 Sei whales were recorded taken by modern whaling in the Southern Hemisphere during 1905–1979 (Allison 2017), and the last stock assessments of Sei Whales conducted by the IWC Scientific Committee were in 1979 for the Southern Hemisphere (IWC 1980). Nowadays in the absence of dedicated surveys and corresponding abundance estimates, it is not possible to verify whether there has been any increase in Southern Hemisphere Sei whales since the cessation of whaling. Nevertheless, while the available data do not permit a scientifically rigorous estimation of the extent of population reduction, a conventional population assessment model was used to provide an illustration of the extent of possible reduction, and fitted population sizes for the aged 1+ were 10,000 whales in 1983 in the Southern Hemisphere (Cooke et al. 2018). Antarctic blue whale, Fin and Sei whales have been protected in the Southern Hemisphere since 1976, thus the direct exploitation threat is part of the past. However, a new threat for these species in Antarctica might be food availability in a near future, which we can take into consideration the Scotia Arc waters which is an important foraging ground for these species. The main food of these baleen whales in the Southern Ocean, Euphausia superba and E. crystallorophias, are predicted to decline during the 21st century due both to reduced ocean productivity associated with warming (Piñones and Fedorov 2016) and to increasing ocean acidity that limits their shell-building (Kawaguchi et al. 2013).

The Sperm whale, classified as “Vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List, was commercially hunted at a large scale in the Antarctic region, with the population of mature and maturing males in the Antarctic heavily whaled between 1950-1980 (Taylor et al. 2008). The expected rate of increase for exploited populations of sperm whales was estimated to be approximately 1.1 percent per year (Whitehead 2002). Systematic surveys of Sperm whales in the Antarctic showed no substantial or statistically significant increase between 1978 and 1992 (Branch and Butterworth 2001). Yet, heavily exploited populations of sperm whales in the Southern Hemisphere have shown little evidence of population increase decades after the end of their commercial hunting (Carroll et al. 2014). Sperm whales have been reported to depredate Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) from long-lines in Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic regions, and it appears to be an increasing phenomenon occurring in South Georgia and several other Southern Ocean island areas (Purves et al. 2004, Guinet et al. 2015, Janc et al. 2018). This interaction has resulted in some threats to the species as entanglements and deaths (Hucke-Gaete et al. 2004) and has incurred hostility from some fishermen (Donoghue et al. 2003, González and Olavarria 2002, Guinet et al. 2015).

Criterion C: Key Life Cycle Activities

Sub-criterion C2: Feeding Areas

The area includes an important feeding ground for Southern right whales from breeding grounds off along the coast of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil (Best et al. 1993, Rowntree et al. 2001, Ott et al. 2011, IWC 2012, Nijs and Rowntree 2017). The International Whaling Commission (IWC) divided the Southern Hemisphere into 11 management units for Southern right whales based on the distribution patterns and locations of breeding aggregations (IWC, 2001). One of these units corresponded to breeding grounds off Peninsula Valdés, Argentina, which has the largest aggregations of Southern right whales in the western South Atlantic Ocean (IWC, 2001). Valenzuela et al (2011), assessing genetic differentiation on Southern right whale calving and feeding grounds, confirmed the lack of differentiation between Peninsula Valdés (Argentina) and the feeding ground off South Georgia (IWC 2012), supporting that South Georgia is an important feeding destination for Southern right wintering off Peninsula Valdés. Moreover, recent studies using satellite tags have confirmed feeding areas surrounding South Georgia for Southern right whales tagged in Argentina (Zerbini et al. 2016, 2018). Additionally, the occurrence of Southern right whales around South Georgia has been well documented from early 20th century and the 1960s whaling (Tormosov et al. 1998, IWC 2001) as well as sighting data (Moore et al. 1999, Richardson et al. 2012, IWC SOWER Cruises).

Traditionally the IWC managed Humpback whale stocks on the basis of the six Antarctic areas (I through VI) although the Scientific Committee recognizes seven major breeding stocks, A through G. The wintering ground of stock A is the Southwest Atlantic (coast of Brazil), and the northeast of South Georgia and the waters around the South Sandwich Islands (Antarctic area II) is an important foraging ground for Humpback whales from this stock according to satellite tracking studies (Zerbini et al. 2006, 2011). Photo-identification, genetic, and old Discovery mark data also support the relationship of breeding stock A (Brazil) feeding ground around the South Sandwich Islands, and also suggest areas close to South Georgia might be important (Zerbini et al. 2006, 2011, Engel et al. 2008, Fleming and Jackson 2011, Jackson et al. 2015).

Criterion D: Special Attributes

Sub-criterion D2: Diversity

Many cetacean species have been recorded in the northwest parts of the Scotia Arc. Historical catch records, surveys transect, opportunistic sightings, and tracking data all document the presence of whales around the islands (Mizrov et al. 1985, Moore et al. 1999, Richardson et al. 2012, Ropert-Coudert et al. 2014, 2018, IWC SOWER Cruises, OBIS 2018). Records of catches at South Georgia (1904 to 1965) included: Blue whale, Fin whale, Sei whale, Humpback whale, Minke whale, Southern right whale and Sperm whale in great numbers (evidencing aggregations of many baleen species), although most species were depleted to <10% of their original stock size (Clapham and Baker 2009). Large whale species that were depleted during the whaling era at South Georgia are recovering, but at variable rates (Richardson et al. 2012). No data sources suggest major concentration of baleen whales, but the area still representing the full richness of marine mammal species diversity and the high densities of krill undoubtedly are an attractant for marine mammals.From recent studies analysing opportunistic sightings from 1992 to 2001, the four most commonly reported species around South Georgia were Southern right whales, Humpback whales, Minke whales and Killer whales (Richardson et al. 2012). Other species seen around South Georgia, western and southeast of the islands include Blue whales, Fin whales, Hourglass dolphins, Long-finned pilot whales, Sei whales, Sperm whales, and Southern bottlenose whales (Mizrov et al. 1985, Moore et al. 1999, Richardson et al. 2012, Ropert-Coudert et al. 2014, 2018, IWC SOWER Cruises, OBIS 2018). See Annex 1 (figure 4). South Georgia island is the main breeding area for the Antarctic fur seal (Reijnders et al. 1993, Wynen et al. 2000, SCAR EGS 2008); a small population of Weddell seal lives all year (Southwell et al. 2012), and more than 50% of Southern elephant seal pup production takes place at South Georgia (Boyd et al. 1996, M. Fedak pers. comm. in SCAR EGS 2008). Leopard seal births at South Georgia occur from late August to the middle of September (Southwell et al. 2012) and moving all year-round on South Georgia close proximity (Jessopp et al. 2004).

Supporting Information

Allison C. 2017. The IWC Catch Data Base, version 6.1. [online]. Available at: International Whaling Commission www.iwc.int.

Atkinson, A., Whitehouse, M.J., Priddle, J., Cripps, G.C., Ward, P. and Brandon, M.A. 2001. South Georgia, Antarctica: a productive, cold water, pelagic ecosystem. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 216: 279-308.

Atkinson, A., Siegel, V., Pakhomov, E.A., Rothery, P., Loeb, V., Ross, R.M., Quetin, L.B., Schmidt, K., Fretwell, P., Murphy, E.J. and Tarling, G.A. 2008. Oceanic circumpolar habitats of Antarctic krill. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 362:1-23.

Best, P.B., Payne, R., Rowntree, V., Palazzo, J.T. and Both, M.D. 1993. Long-range movements of South Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena australis. Marine Mammal Science, 9(3): 227-34.

Branch, T. A. and Butterworth, D. S. 2001. Estimates of abundance south of 60°S for cetacean species sighted frequently on the 1978/79 to 1997/98 IWC/IDCR-SOWER sighting surveys. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 3(3): 251-270.

Boyd, I. L., Walker, T. R. and Poncet, J. 1996. Status of southern elephant seals at South Georgia. Antarctic Science, 8: 237-244.

Carroll, G., Hedley, S., Bannister, J., Ensor, P. and Harcourt, R. 2014. No evidence for recovery in the population of sperm whale bulls off Western Australia, 30 years post-whaling. Endangered Species Research, 24:33-43.

Clapham P.J. and Baker, C.S. 2009. Whaling, modern. In: Perrin WF, Würsig BG, Thewissen JGM (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, pp. 1239−1243. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Cooke, J.G. 2018. Balaenoptera musculus. In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Cooke, J.G. 2018. Balaenoptera musculus ssp. intermedia. In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Cooke, J.G. 2018. Balaenoptera borealis. In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Cooke, J.G. 2018. Balaenoptera physalus. In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Donoghue, M., Reeves, R. R. and Stone, G. S. 2003. Report of the Workshop on Interactions Between Cetaceans and Longline Fisheries. New England Aquarium Aquatic Forum Series Report 03-1. New England Aquarium Press, Boston, MA, USA in cooperation with the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, Apia, Samoa.

Engel, M.H., Fagundes, N.J., Rosenbaum, H.C., Leslie, M.S., Ott, P.H., Schmitt, R., Secchi, E., Dalla Rosa, L. and Bonatto, S.L. 2008. Mitochondrial DNA diversity of the Southwestern Atlantic humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breeding area off Brazil, and the potential connections to Antarctic feeding areas. Conservation Genetics, 9(5):1253-1262.

Fielding, S., Watkins, J.L., Trathan, P.N., Enderlein, P., Waluda, C.M., Stowasser, G., Tarling, G.A. and Murphy, E.J. 2014. Interannual variability in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) density at South Georgia, Southern Ocean: 1997–2013. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71(9): 2578-2588.

Fleming, A and Jackson, J. 2011. In press. Global review of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center: NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-474.

González, E. and Olavarria, C. 2002. Interactions between odontocetes and the artisan fisheries of Patagonian toothfish Disossitchus eleginoides off Chile, Eastern South Pacific. Toothed Whale/Longline Fisheries Interactions in the South Pacific Workshop SREP.

Guinet, C., Tixier, P., Gasco, N. and Duhamel, G. 2015. Long-term studies of Crozet Island killer whales are fundamental to understanding the economic and demographic consequences of their depredation behaviour on the Patagonian toothfish fishery. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 72:1587–1597.

Hucke-Gaete, R., Moreno, C. A. and Arata, J. 2004. Operational interactions of sperm whales and killer whales with the Patagonian toothfish industrial fishery off southern Chile. CCAMLR Science, 11:127-140.

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International Whaling Commission. 2001. Report of the Workshop on the Comprehensive Assessment of Right Whales: A worldwide comparison. Journal of Cetacean Research Management, (special issue) 2:1-60.

International Whaling Commission. 2012. Report of the IWC Workshop on the assessment of Southern right whales. IWC Scientific Committee SC/64/Rep5, IWC, Cambridge, 1–39. Buenos Aires, 13–16 September 2011.

Jackson, J. A. Ross-Gillespie A., D. Butterworth, Findlay, S. Holloway, J. Robbins, H. Rosenbaum, M. Weinrich, C. S. Baker, and Zerbini, A. 2015. Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whale Comprehensive Assessment. A synthesis and summary: 2005–2015. Report (SC/66a/SH/3) to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission.

Janc, A., Richard, G., Guinet, C., Arnould, J.P., Villanueva, M.C., Duhamel, G., Gasco, N. and Tixier, P. 2018. How do fishing practices influence sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) depredation on demersal longline fisheries? Fisheries Research, 206:14-26.

Jessopp, M.J., J. Forcada, K. Reid, P.N. Trathan, and E.J. Murphy. 2004. Winter dispersal of leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonix) environmental factors influencing demographics and seasonal abundance. J. Zool., 263:251–258.

Kawaguchi, S., Ishida, A., King, R., Raymond, B., Waller, N., Constable, A., Nicol, S., Wakita, M. and Ishimatsu, A. 2013. Risk maps for Antarctic krill under projected Southern Ocean acidification. Nature Climate Change, 3:843-847.

Matsuoka, K. and Hakamada, T. 2014. Estimates of abundance and abundance trend of the blue, fin and southern right whales in the Antarctic Areas IIIE-VIW, south of 60oS, based on JARPA and JARPAII sighting data (1989/90-2008/09). International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee. SC/F14/J05.

Mizroch S.A., Rice D.W., Bengtson J.L., and Larson S.W. 1985. Preliminary atlas of Balaenopterid whale distribution in the Southern Ocean based on pelagic catch data. CCAMLR Selected Scientific Papers 113-193 (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Hobart, Australia).

Moore, M.J., Berrow, S.D., Jensen, B.A., Carr, P., Sears, R., Rowntree, V.J., Payne, R. and Hamilton, P.K. 1999. Relative abundance of large whales around South Georgia (1979–1998). Marine Mammal Science, 15(4):1287-1302.

Nijs G. and Rowntree V.J. 2017. Rare sightings of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) on a feeding ground off the South Sandwich Islands, including a known individual from Península Valdés, Argentina. Marine Mammal Science, 33(1): 342-349.

OBIS. 2018. Ocean Biogeographic Information System. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. www.iobis.org.

Ott, P.H., Flores, P.A.C., Freitas, T.R.O. and White, B.N. 2011. Genetic diversity and population structure of southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, from the Atlantic coast of South America. Paper SC/S11/RW25 presented to the Southern Right Whale Assessment Workshop. Buenos Aires, 13-16 September 2011.

Piñones A., and A. V. Fedorov. 2016. Projected changes of Antarctic krill habitat by the end of the 21st century. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43 [online]. Available at: doi:10.1002/2016GL069656.

Purves, M. G. et al. 2014. Killer whale (Orcinus orca) and Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) interactions with longline vessels in the patagonian toohfish fishery at South Georgia, South Atlantic. CCAMLR Sci.,11:111–126.

Reid K., Watkins J. L., Murphy E. J., Trathan P. N., Fielding S., Enderlein P. 2010. Multiple time scales of variability in the krill population at South Georgia, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 399:243-252.

Reijnders, P., Brasseur, S., van der Toorn, J., van der Wolf, P., Boyd, I., Harwood, J., Lavigne, D. and Lowry, L. 1993. Seals, fur seals, sea lions, and walrus. Status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN Seal Specialist Group.

Richardson, J., Wood, A.G., Neil, A., Nowacek, D. and Moore, M. 2012. Changes in distribution, relative abundance, and species composition of large whales around South Georgia from opportunistic sightings: 1992 to 2011. Endangered Species Research, 19(2):149-156.

Ropert-Coudert Y., Hindell M.A., Phillips R., Charrassin J.B., Trudelle L., Raymond B. 2014. Biogeographic patterns of birds and mammals. In: de Broyer C., Koubbi P., Griffiths H.J., Raymond B., Udekem d’acoz C. D, et al. (eds.). Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean, 364-387. Cambridge: Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

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Rowntree, V.J., Payne, R. and Schell, D.M. 2001. Changing patterns of habitat use by southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) on their nursery ground at Península Valdés, Argentina, and in their long-range movements. J. Cetacean Res. Manage. (special issue), 2: 133-43.

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Southwell, C., Bengtson, J. Bester, M., Blix, A.S., Bornemann, H., Boveng, P., Cameron, M., Forcada, J., Laake, J., Nordøy, E., Plötz, J., Rogers, T., Southwell, D., Steinhage, D., Stewart, B.S. and Trathan, P. 2012. A review of data on abundance, trends in abundance, habitat use and diet of ice-breeding seals in the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR Science, 19: 49-74.

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Thorpe S. E., Murphy E. J., Watkins J. L. 2007. Circumpolar connections between Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana) populations: investigating the roles of ocean and sea ice transport, Deep Sea Research I, 54:792-810.

Tormosov, D.D., Mikhalev, Y.A., Best, P.B., Zemsky, V.A., Sekiguchi, K. and Brownell Jr, R.L. 1998. Soviet catches of southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, 1951-1971; biological data and conservation implications. Biol. Conserv., 86(2):185-97.

Valenzuela, L.O., Sironi, M., Seger, J. and Rowntree, V. 2011. Genetic population structure of Patagonian right whales and assessment of foraging strategies by stable isotope analysis. Paper SC/S11/RW3 presented to the Southern Right Whale Assessment Workshop, Buenos Aires, 13-16 September 2011.

Viquerat S. and Herr H. 2017. Mid-summer abundance estimates of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus around the South Orkney Islands and Elephant Island. Endangered Species Research, 32: 515–524.

Wynen, L. P., Goldsworthy, S. D., Guinet, C., Bester, M. N., Boyd, I. L., Gjertz, I., Hofmeyr, G. J. G., White, R. W. G. and Slade, R. W. 2000. Post sealing genetic variation and population structure of two species of fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella and A. tropicalis). Molecular Ecology, 9: 299-314.

Whitehead, H. 2002. Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus. In: W. F. Perrin, B. Wursig and J. G. M. Thewissen (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, pp. 1165-1172. Academic Press.

Zerbini, A.N., Andriolo, A., Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Pizzorno, J.L., Maia, Y.G., VanBlaricom, G.R., DeMaster, D.P., Simões-Lopes, P.C., Moreira, S. and Bethlem, C. 2006. Satellite-monitored movements of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 313:295-304.

Zerbini, A.N., Andriolo, A., Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Moreira, S.C., Pizzorno, J.L., Maia, Y.G., VanBlaricom, G.R. and Demaster, D.P. 2011. Migration and summer destinations of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the western South Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, Special Issue 3:113-118.

Zerbini A., Martin Mendez, Howard Rosenbaum, Federico Sucunza, Artur Andriolo, Guillermo Harris, Phillip J. Clapham, Mariano Sironi and Marcela Uhart. 2016. Tracking southern right whales through the southwest Atlantic: New insights into migratory routes and feeding grounds. Report SC/66a/BRG/22 to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission.

Zerbini, A.N., Ajó, A.F., Andriolo, A., Clapham, P.J., Crespo, E., González, R., Harris, G., Mendez, M., Rosenbaum, H., Sironi, M. and Sucunza, F. 2018. Satellite tracking of Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) from Golfo San Matías, Rio Negro Province, Argentina. International Whaling Commission Scientific Commission, Bled, Slovenia.

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