Priority Ocean Areas for Protection in the Mid-Atlantic

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Individual Recommendations
Robert D. Kenney

POLYGON RK1

Rationale: biodiversity
Seasons and depths important for protection: year-round; pelagic

The shelf break and upper slope, between the 100-meter and 2,000-meter isobaths, have the highest diversity of marine mammals in the U.S. mid-Atlantic EEZ, although marine mammals occur throughout the region, from the coast to offshore pelagic waters. The shelf-edge cetacean species include sperm, beaked, pilot, sei, and fin whales, and common, Rizzo’s, bottlenose, striped, and spotted dolphins. Some species occupy the entire zone, while others occur only in the more northern or southern portions. While most of the individual species are at least somewhat seasonal in their resi-dence, combined as a community, their habitats occupy this band year-round. A variety of squid species that can be found along the shelf break are probably the major attraction for many of these mammals.

REFERENCES

Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1981. A Characterization of Marine Mammals and Turtles in the Mid- and North-Atlantic Areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, Annual Report for 1979. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-81-243289.)

Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1982a. A Characterization of Marine Mammals and Turtles in the Mid- and North-Atlantic Areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, Annual Report for 1980. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-83-149906.)

Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program. 1982b. A Characterization of Marine Mammals and Turtles in the Mid- and North-Atlantic Areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, Final Report. Contract AA551-CT8-48. Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC. (NTIS# PB-83-215855.)

Goodale, D.R. 1981. The Temporal and Geographic Distribution of Humpback, Fin, and Right Whale Calves. M.S. thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI.

Hain, J.H.W., M.A.M. Hyman, R.D. Kenney, and H.E. Winn. 1985. The Role of Cetaceans in the Shelf-Edge Region of the Northeastern United States. Mar. Fish. Rev. 47 (1): 13–17.

Hain, J.H.W., M.J. Ratnaswamy, R.D. Kenney, and H.E. Winn. 1992. The Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Waters of the Northeastern U.S. Continental Shelf. Rept. Int. Whale. Comm. 42: 653–69.

Kenney R.D. 1984. Distributional Biology of the Cetacean Fauna of the Northeast United States Continental Shelf. Ph.D. dissertation. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI.

Kenney, R.D. 1990. Bottlenose Dolphins off the Northeastern United States. In S. Leatherwood and R.R. Reeves, eds. The Bottlenose Dolphin (San Diego: Academic Press), pp. 369–96.

Kenney, R.D. 1996. Preliminary Assessment of Competition for Prey Between Leatherback Sea Turtles and Ocean Sunfish in Northeast Shelf Waters. In J.A. Keinath, D.E. Barnard, J.A. Musick, and B.A. Bell, eds. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. U.S. Department of Commerce NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-387. National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami, pp. 144–47.

Kenney, R.D., M.A.M. Hyman, and H.E. Winn. 1985. Calculation of Standing Stocks and Energetic Requirements of the Cetaceans of the Northeast United States Outer Continental Shelf. U.S. Department of Commerce NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-F/NEC-41. National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA.

Kenney, R.D., R.E. Owen, and H.E. Winn. 1985. Shark Distributions off the Northeast United States from Marine Mammal Surveys. Copeia 1985(1): 220–23.

Kenney, R.D., P.M. Payne, D.W. Heinemann, and H.E. Winn. 1996. Shifts in Northeast Shelf Cetacean Distributions Relative to Trends in Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank Finfish Abundance. In K. Sherman, N.A. Jaworski, and T.J. Smayda, eds. The Northeast Shelf Ecosystem: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management (Boston: Blackwell Science), pp. 169–96.

Kenney, R.D., G. P. Scott, T.J. Thompson, and H.E. Winn. 1997. Estimates of Prey Con-sumption and Trophic Impacts of Cetaceans in the USA Northeast Con-tinental Shelf Ecosystem. J. Northw. Atlantic Fish. Sci. 22: 155–71.

Kenney, R.D. and H.E. Winn. 1986. Cetacean High-Use Habitats of the Northeast United States Continental Shelf. Fish. Bull. 84 (2): 107–14.

Owen, R. E. 1984. Distribution and Ecology of the Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765). M.S. thesis. Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI. l

Scott, G.P. and J.R. Gilbert. 1982. Problems and Progress in the U. S. BLM-Sponsored CETAP Surveys. Rept. Int. Whal. Comm. 32: 587–600.

Shoop, C.R. 1987. The Sea Turtles. In R.H. Backus and D.W. Bourne, eds. Georges Bank. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 357–58.

Shoop, C.R. and R.D. Kenney. 1992. Seasonal Distributions and Abundances of Loggerhead and Leatherback Sea Turtles in Waters of the Northeastern United States. Herpetol.Monogr. 6: 43–67.

Sorensen, P.W., R.J. Medved, M.A.M. Hyman, and H.E. Winn. 1984. Distribution and Abundance of Cetaceans in the Vicinity of Human Activities Along the Continental Shelf of the Northwestern Atlantic. Mar. Environ. Res. 12: 69–81.

Winn, H.E., J.H.W. Hain, M.A.M. Hyman, and G.P. Scott. 1987. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. In R.H. Backus and D.W. Bourne, eds. Georges Bank. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 375–82.

Winn, H.E., C.A. Price., and P.W. Sorensen. 1986. Distributional Biology of the Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) in the Western North Atlantic. Rep. Int. Whal. Comm. Special Issue 10: 129–38.

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