Baird's Beaked Whale 

 Berardius hairiii Stejneger, 1885 



Baird's beaked whales are endemic to the North Pacific, where they 

 inhabit higher latitude temperate to lower latitude polar waters. There 

 are records of their occurrence from as far south as latitudes 28 N off 

 Baja California, 25 N off Japan and ;o N across the central Pacific. 

 Although these may represent the usual wintering limits for most of 

 the population(s), some Baird's beaked whales appear to be present oft 

 Baja California and Southern California, at least, year-round. North 

 and west of these areas, Baird's beaked whales are vvidelv distributed in 

 waters of the North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, and Sea of Okhotsk. Some 

 animals migrate into the Bering Sea in spring and remain there until 

 about September, ranging at least as far north as St. Matthew Island 

 and Olyukorskiy Bay. 



Some ;o years ago it was hypothesized, based on sightings and 

 whaling records, that in the western North Pacific Baird's beaked 

 whales undertook migrations that were atypical of whales, spending 

 winter and spring in northern and summer and autumn in southern 

 waters. However, data accumulated from that area since have con- 

 founded that earlier interpretaion and leave as equally plausible the 

 hypothesis that the whales simply make inshore-offshore movements 

 at different seasons in different areas. 



From whaling records and scant observations prior to 1980 it «as 

 written often that though Baird's beaked whales were certainK' present 

 off both Central and Northern California from June through October, 

 there were apparent peaks in numbers off Central California in July 

 and October. These peaks were thought by some to correspond to long 

 distance north-south migrations. Baird's beaked whales were seen or 

 caught off Washington between April and October and were encoun- 

 tered with some regularity oft British Columbia from May through 

 September, but with peaks in August. 



During three \'ears of extensive aerial surveys of California waters 

 within about 100 nm of shore north of Point Conception, researchers 

 saw Baird's beaked whales in all months except December, January and 

 .\pril. Further, there was no evidence that animals moved into the study 

 area(^sj from cither north or south, leading to speculation that the 

 species spends winter and spring far offshore then moves onto the 

 continental shelf from June through November, taking advantage of 

 seasonalh' warm waters. 



During the years of observation (1980-85 ) Baird's beaked whales 

 wevc seen with equal frequency in water deeper than 1000 fms ( 27% of 

 the effort, about 25% of the animals j and in water shallower than 

 1000 fms (75% of the effort about 75% of the animals). This is 

 contrary to evidence from the western North Pacific and Aleutian 

 islands, where Baird's beaked whales have been found largely in the 

 deep ocean or in deep canyons near the continental shelf in water over 

 1000 fms deep, and are rarely reported in continental shelf waters. 



There is far less systematic evidence on which to base conclusions 

 about Baird's beaked whale distribution and movements in the SCB 

 and immediately adjacent pelagic waters. We are aware of 17 sightings 

 of the species in those areas fi-om 1952 througth 1978. At least one of 

 those occurred in each month except January and May. Thirteen of 

 those records are from the deep waters off the Patton Escarpment. Two 

 were along the escarpment, in August. The only two within the SCB 

 are a sighting in July just south of San Nicolas Island (in deep water of 

 the San Nicolas Basin) and one in January off Pyramid Head, San 

 Clemente Island (also in deep water). This and the absence of known 

 strandings on the Southern California mainland or on the Channel 

 Islands has lead us in the past to list Baird's beaked whales as a deep 

 water species unlikely to occur in the SCB. However, with the evidence 

 of inshore-offshore movement off Central and Northern California we 

 will not be surprised at sightings over the SCB in coming years. The 

 sizes of eastern North Pacific populations are unknown, but in the 

 absence of sustained major harvests in the area or of catches in the past 

 approximately 15 years, stocks are assumed to be healthy. 



Figure 15. A group of Baird's he,ikcd whales sighted .u latitude \o 01.4 

 Longitude 1 17°56.6'. (Above, photo bv John E. Law. I An adult male Baird's 

 beaked whale on the ramp of a whaling station. This species was represented 

 in catches by shore-whalers in California. British Columbia, and southern 

 Alaska. ( Right, photo courtesy H. Omura. ) 



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