460
1971. Female southern right whales sexual maturity is reached at 6 years old and the
modal age of first reproduction is 9 years (Payne 1986; Payne et al. 1990; Best et al.
2001; Cooke et al. 2001). Therefore, whale B016 was at least 44 years old when she
was last sighted in Brazil. This whale represented one of the first direct links
between the two breeding areas.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1987 1988 1992 1993 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
No. of resighƟngs
No. new whales
idenƟfied
Survey year
Fig. 16.16 Number of right whales photo-identified by year during aerial surveys off Southern
Brazil. Note the rapid increase in the population observed in 2002 and the variation in the total
number of whales each year
Fig. 16.17 The female B016, (a) First sighted in 1988, (b) Resighted in 2006, 18 years later. She
was previously sighted in Argentina in 1971 (PV256) (Best et al. 1993)
K. Groch
1971. Female southern right whales sexual maturity is reached at 6 years old and the
modal age of first reproduction is 9 years (Payne 1986; Payne et al. 1990; Best et al.
2001; Cooke et al. 2001). Therefore, whale B016 was at least 44 years old when she
was last sighted in Brazil. This whale represented one of the first direct links
between the two breeding areas.
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1987 1988 1992 1993 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
No. of resighƟngs
No. new whales
idenƟfied
Survey year
Fig. 16.16 Number of right whales photo-identified by year during aerial surveys off Southern
Brazil. Note the rapid increase in the population observed in 2002 and the variation in the total
number of whales each year
Fig. 16.17 The female B016, (a) First sighted in 1988, (b) Resighted in 2006, 18 years later. She
was previously sighted in Argentina in 1971 (PV256) (Best et al. 1993)
K. Groch