Payne et al : Abundance fluctuations of baleen whales in the southern Gulf of Maine 



691 



Several significant negative relationships also oc- 

 curred between whale species (Table 2), most notice- 

 ably between humpbacks and right whales (r, = 

 -0.7753, P<0.0001), humpbacks and sei whales (r, 

 = - 0.5507, P<0.0019), and fin whales and right whales 

 (/•, = -0.3250, P<0.0643). This supports an intuitive 

 interpretation of the data shown in Figure 3, notably 

 the obvious phenomenon of low humpback and fin 

 whale abundance in 1986, the only year right and sei 

 whales were observed in significant numbers. 



