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2015 Aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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These aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia were collected in September 2015. Such annual flights in winter/spring between Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia) and Ceduna (South Australia) have now been conducted over a 23-year period 1993-2015. These surveys have provided evidence of a population trend of around 6% per year, and a current (at 2014) population size of approximately 2300 of what has been regarded as the 'western' Australian right whale subpopulation. With estimated population size in the low thousands, it is presumed to be still well below carrying capacity. No trend information is available for the 'eastern' subpopulation of animals occurring around the remainder of the southern Australian Coast, to at least as far as Sydney, New South Wales and the populations size is relatively small, probably in the low hundreds. A lower than expected 'western' count in 2015 gives weak evidence that the growth rate may be starting to show signs of slowing, though an exponential increase remains the best description of the data. If the low 2015 count is anomalous, future counts may be expected to show an exponential increase, but if it is not, modelling growth as other than simple exponential may be useful to explore in future. A data update was provided in August, 2020 to correct some incorrectly given longitude values.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title 2015 Aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/d09b3fc4-cb97-467e-a979-bc5cdfb5b2dd
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
metadata@aad.gov.au
Reference Period 09/02/2015 - 09/07/2015
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        113.02734,
        -36.59789
      ],
      [
        138.69141,
        -36.59789
      ],
      [
        138.69141,
        -29.993
      ],
      [
        113.02734,
        -29.993
      ],
      [
        113.02734,
        -36.59789
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "2015 Aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/2015-aerial-survey-data-of-southern-right-whales-eubalaena-australis-off-southern-australia