Type-D killer whalesof the Crozet Islands

Photo-Identification Catalogue 2014

Paul Tixier, Nicolas Gasco, Timothée Poupart, Christophe Guinet

Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé - CNRS

79360 Villiers en Bois

Type-D killer whales

Crozet IslandsPhoto-Identification Catalogue 2014

Paul Tixier, Nicolas Gasco, Timothée Poupart, Chris tophe Guinet

Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé - CNRS

Villiers en Bois

79360 Beauvoir sur Niort

CEBC-CNRS 2014

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are top marine predators that feed on a wide range

of prey items and are also known to interact with fisheries worldwide (Dahlheim,

1988; Purves et al., 2004; Hucke-Gaete et al., 2004). Three distinct

morphotypes of killer whales have been documented off the Crozet and

Kerguelen islands (French southern territories). The most commonly

encountered type is morphologically and genetically closer to Antarctic type-A

killer whales (Morin et al., in review). These whales have been the focus of field

studies since the 1970s around the Crozet islands where most sightings occur

and were thereby referred to as “Crozet killer whales”. They belong to stable

and long-lasting social units and appear to be generalist as they feed on fish,

seabirds, pinnipeds and whales (Guinet, 1992). They also heavily interact with

the local fishery by depredating Patagonian toothfish caugth on longlines (Tixier

et al., 2010; Tixier et al., 2014).

Preface

Amongst the two other types of whales, the occasional presence of type-C killer whales (Pitman & Ensor, 2003) was

confirmed by photographs taken in the Kerguelen inshore waters in 2008 (Tixier, pers. comm.). The rare type-D killer

whales were first reported and documented in the Crozet waters in 2003 (Pitman et al., 2010). Although they also

depredate Patagonian toothfish on longlines, their natural feeding ecology remains poorly known. Unlike the Crozet killer

whales, type-Ds have never been encountered in inshore waters of the islands. Depredation events all occurred on

longlines that were set in deep areas suggesting an offshore-type foraging ecology.

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Source: Whalewatcher, 40: 33-38 artist: U. Gorter (2011)

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Preface

Since 2003, type-D killer whales have been sighted and photographed on 61 occasions from longliners off the Crozet

islands, and on two occasions off the Kerguelen islands from longliners as well. A significant increase of the frequency of

such sightings in recent years was observed. Between 2003 and 2014, a total of 40 individuals (31 adults and 9 juveniles)

were identified and sighted at least once in the area. While a set of individuals has been regularly encountered since

2003, others were more sporadically encountered. Type-Ds never associated with the Crozet killer whales. However, they

were observed interacting simultaneously with the same vessel on several occasions. During such events, the two types

seemed to strongly avoid each other. Individuals gathered and remained close to each other within groups of each type.

Paired with recent studies on genetics, which showed that the two types are from very distant lineages (Foote et al.,

2013), the social seggregation as well as the observed differences in morphology and likely foraging ecology suggest the

sympatry of the Type-D and the Crozet killer whales.

This catalogue was achieved using photo-identification data collected from fishing vessels by fishery observers. Pictures

were taken and analyzed according to the photo-identification protocol developed in the NE Pacific by Bigg (1982). Priority

was on left sides of the dorsal fin and saddle patch but for some individuals there were good pictures of the right side only.

The edition of this catalogue was greatly based on catalogues produced by Bigg and colleagues (Bigg et al., 1987; Ford

and Ellis, 1999; Ford et al., 2000) over the past 30 years. Association analyses were performed to attempt in identifying

the social clusters existing within the set of individuals (Whitehead, 2009).

Photographers

AUBERT Anthony, AUBERT Fabien, AUBERT Jean-Luc, AUGER Thomas, BEAUFILS

David, BEAUJEAN Alain, BEILLOEIL Michel, BERTRAND Geoffrey, BOCHARD Romain,

BODIGER Gwenaël, BOUTAIN Jérome, CADET Jean-Fred, CANTÉ Stephen,

CAPEDEVILLE Didier, CASCADE Sophie, CAUVIN Gilles, CHARREYRE Benjamin,

COROUGE Ewen, DELORME Quentin, DERVAUX Antoine, DISS Quentin, FABIEN Moullec,

GASCO Nicolas, GASPARD Patrick, GRANAUD Olivier, GUILLOTIN Olivier, HOARAU Eric,

HOUILLOT Grégoire, HUILLIER Jean-Tristan, LE BARZIC Franck, LE BERRIGAUD Patrice,

LE CORRE Yann, LE PETITCORPS Jean-Marie, LEMARCHAND Christian, MOIROUX

Nicolas, PERE Anthony, RICHARD Emilie, ROCHARD Denis, SERVERA Nicolas , SIMIAND

Frederic, TIXIER Paul, VERMANDE Hugues, VICINATI Eric

© Paul Tixier: cover

© Patrick Gaspard: back cover

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all photographers that contributed to this catalogue.

Special thanks are due to Pr. Guy Duhamel, C. Chazeau, P. Pruvost and A. Martin (Muséum national

d’histoire naturelle de Paris, Département des Milieux et Peuplements Aquatiques) for providing part of

the data (see Martin & Pruvost, 2007).

We are grateful to all the people that have inspired this work especially the following: Mike Bigg,

Graeme Ellis, John Ford, Kenneth Balcomb, Craig Matkin, Eva Saulitis, Lance Barrett Lennard, Paul

Spong and Helena Symonds.

We thank all the partners who have contributed to the monitoring of killer whales of the Crozet and

Kerguelen waters for many years: Cédric Marteau, Axel Falguier, Antoine Dervaux (Réserve Naturelle

des Terres Australes Françaises), Thierry Clot (TAAF), Henri Weimerskish (CEBC-CNRS Programme

109), Yves Frénot (IPEV),

We thank all the interns that have contributed to the analysis of photo-identification data: Eric Poncelet,

Cécile Roche and Eve Jourdain.

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Partners and funding

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© Paul Tixier

South Africa

IndianOcean

KerguelenCrozet

1000 km

Study Area

Crozet islands

Kerguelen islands

Distribution of encounters of type-D killer whales from fishing vessels between 2003 and 2014 (black dots) off the Crozet and Kerguelen islands (southern french territories).

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j YearEffort

(nb photographs)

Cj Rj Nj Mj

1 2003 122 8 0 8 8

2 2004 0 0 0 0 8

3 2005 130 9 1 8 16

4 2006 0 0 0 0 16

5 2007 0 0 0 0 16

6 2008 85 0 0 0 16

7 2009 449 19 8 11 27

8 2010 116 12 10 2 29

9 2011 83 3 0 0 29

10 2012 940 22 20 2 31

11 2013 815 19 19 0 31

12 2014 434 12 12 0 31

Capture-recapture summary

Capture-recapture summary statistics of adults for the period 2003-2014. j is the sighting occasion number, Cj the number of individuals sighted at occasion j, Rj the number of individuals resighted among Cj, Nj the number of newly sighted individuals during occasion j and Mj the cumulated number of marked

individuals in the population at the end of occasion j. Photo-identification effort is also provided.9

Encounters and discovery curve

Over the 2003-2014 period: a. Number of hooks potientially exposed to depredation by type-D killer whales on Patagonian toothfish (sum of all hooks on longlines hauled in presence of type-Ds) and

proportion of longlines with which type-Ds interacted (out of all longlines with which any type of killer whale – Crozet killer whale or type-Ds interacted). b. Annual photographic effort (number of photographs

of type-Ds) and cumulated number of adult individuals identified (discovery curve).10

2009

2003

2003-2009

2003-2014

Social network

Social network of 33 type-D killer whales identified between 2003 and 2014 off the Crozet islands. Nodesare individuals and lines connect two individuals if they associated at least once (two individuals were

considered as associated when both photographed during the same encounter).11

2009

2003

2003-2009

2003-2014

Cluster analysis

Results from an average-linkage cluster analysis perfomed between 33 type-D killer whales thatwere photographed on at least two occasions during the study period and over 48 encounters

during which at least two individuals were photographed. The association index used in analyses was the Half Weight Index (Whitehead, 2009).

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13

CD001 CD002 CD003 CD004

CD005

2003-2003 2003-2005 2003-20032003-2003

2003-2003

♂ CD011 2003-2009

Lon

gli

ne

rs

CD033 2003-2009

Key

CD001

♂2003-2003

Alpha-numeric individual code

Gender (when known)

Years of first and last observations

Social Relationship

Associated during > 1 encounter

Possible mother-offspring relatedness

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CD007 CD008 CD009 2009-20092009-20092009-2009 2009-2009

2009-2009

2009-2009CD012♂ ♀CD013 CD0202009-2009

Type-D killer whales 2014

CD014 CD031 CD015 CD030CD028 ♂ ♂ ♂2009-2014 2009-20142005-2014 2009-2014 2009-2014

15

Type-D killer whales 2014

CD017CD021 CD029 CD016 CD0182003-2014 2003-20142005-2014 ♂ ♂2005-20142010-2014

2013-2014 2013-2014CD038 CD039

These individuals are the ones thatwere observed interacting with a longliner off the Kerguelen islands. They interacted with two longlines in 2012 (see map p. 8)

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Type-D killer whales 2014

CD006 CD010 CD019 CD022♂ ♂2005-20142009-2014 2012-2014 2005-2014 CD032 2012-2013

2012-2014CD036

17

Type-D killer whales 2014

CD023 CD027CD024 CD025 CD0262009-2014 ♂2005-2014 2005-2014 2005-2014 2010-2014

CD034 2012-20142013-2014CD035

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Type-D killer whales 2014

References

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Bigg, M.A., Olesiuk P.F., Ellis G.M., Ford J.K.B., Balcomb K.C. 1990. Social organization and genealogy of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. Report of the International Whaling Commission, Special Issue 12: 383–405.

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Hucke-Gaete, R., Moreno, C., Arata, J. 2004. Operational interactions of sperm whales and killer whales with the Patagonian toothfish industrial fishery off southern Chile. Ccamlr Sci. 11, 127-140.

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Pitman R.L., Durban J.W., Greenfelder M., Guinet C., Jorgensen M., Olson P.A., Plana J., Tixier P. & Towers J.R. 2010. Observations of a distinctive morphotype of killer whale (Orcinus orca), type D, from subantarcticwaters. Polar Biol. 34, 303-306.

Purves, M.G., Agnew, D.J., Balguerias, E., Moreno, C.A., Watkins, B. 2004. Killer whale (Orcinus orca) and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) interactions with longline vessels in the patagonian toothfish fisheryat South Georgia, South Atlantic. Ccamlr Sci. 11, 111-126.

Tixier, P., Gasco, N., Duhamel, G., Guinet, C. 2010. Interactions of Patagonian toothfish fisheries with killer and sperm whales: an assessment of depredation levels and insights on possible mitigation solutions. CCAMLR Sci. 17, 179-195.

Tixier P., Gasco N., Guinet C. 2014 Photo-identification catalogue of the Crozet killer whales. URL: http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/ecomm/Fr_ecomm/ecomm_cpech_cet.html

Whitehead, H. 2008. In: Analyzing Animal Societies. The University of Chicago Press.

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