Zoe N. Lucas and Sascha K. Hooker
Paper SC/49/O6 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, September 1997.
ABSTRACT
Forty-nine stranded cetaceans were recorded on Sable Island between
1990 and 1996. Ten species were represented in the island's records
including one humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), five
sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), two pygmy sperm whales
(Kogia breviceps), one dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus),
one northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus),
six long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas), eight Atlantic
white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus), three short-beaked
common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), seventeen striped dolphins
(Stenella coeruleoalba), two harbour porpoises (Phocoena
phocoena), two unidentified rorqual whales and one unidentified
dolphin. Recorded events occurred in all months but April and June.
The majority of stranding events (18) were of single individuals.
Four events involved two individuals, two events involved three
individuals, with one event of five white-sided dolphins, and two
events of six striped dolphins each. Strandings of single individuals
occurred in all seasons and on both the north and south sides of the
island, while group strandings occurred only from October through March
and most often on the north side.