these areas in late summer. The last two days were spent over German Bank and Lurcher 

 Shoal off the southern tip of Nova Scotia (see Figure 24). Further interpretation of these 

 movements is in the discussion of satellite imagery and sea surface temperatures. A third 

 adult male, "Necklace" (PTT #831, NEA #1152), provided dive data for 15 days but due to 

 an Argos software problem, never produced any location information. 



Animals were usually relocated by the observation vessel using Argos-acquired 

 locations despite a two to six hour delay in obtaining these locations. Observation was most 

 common for three whales (four times for PTT #833, and three times for #839 and #825, 

 see Table 2). PTT #833 and #825 were observed by us and stayed in a small area near the 

 tagging site. Several animals departed the area soon after tagging, and it was impossible to 

 confirm their locations outs.de our study area with the available logistics. "Wart," a female 

 with a calf, was opp)ortunistically resighted three times by other whale researchers working 

 in the Gulf of Maine/BOF. All reported that the calf was still with the female (C. Mayo, 

 pers. comm., D. Wiley, pers. comm., and C. Hancock, pers. comm.). Argos locations were 

 fortuitously determined at the same time and were within 1 km of the LORAN-determined 

 locations reported by these researchers. 



Water Depths 



Five of six whales spent all of their time in water less than 500 fathoms deep. All six 

 spent the majority of their time in water less than 200 fathoms. Water depths were taken 

 from NOAA charts 13009, 13003, 1109 (US) and Canadian Department of Fisheries and 

 Oceans #L/C 4003 and L/C 4011. A summary of the water depth preferences for individuals 

 is found in Table 6. (These charts reported water depths in fathoms and for convenience 

 we refer to water depths in fathoms in this section only. Table 6 also shows these values in 

 meters.) Because of their long range movements, more emphasis is given to: 1) "Stripe, "the 

 pregnant female (PTT #840); 2) "Wart," the female with a calf (PTT #839); 3) "Willie,"an 

 adult male (PTT #823); and 4) another adult male, "Van Halen," (PTT #843). 



AUof "Stripe's"recorded movements (Figure 21) were within the 500 fathom contour. 

 Only 6.7% of the activity was in less than 10 fathoms of water while the greatest activity was 

 in the 10 - 50 fathom range (40%) or 50 - 100 fathoms (40%). Only 13.3% of the activity 

 was in water deeper than 100 fathoms. 



"Wart's" movements (Figure 19) were quite comparable with 9% of movement in less 

 than 10 fathoms, 44% in the 10 - 50 fathom range, 43% in the 50 - 100 fathom range and 

 only 4% in depths greater than 100 fathoms. 



"Willie" (PTT #823) spent 37% of his time in water deeper than 100 fathoms (Figure 

 24). Less than 1% of "Willie's" time was in water less than 18 fathoms. The first two 

 categories of highest rank were 37% in 10 - 50 fathom water and 25% in 50 - 100 fathoms 

 including 13% in water 2500 - 3000 fathoms. We believe "Van Halen's" (PTT #843) track 

 (Figure 22) can be examined as two separate activities: high speed movements and feeding. 



45 



