Southern Right Whale Aerial Survey Abundance Data from Southern Australia, 2021-2022

Southern Australia aerial surveys monitor the endangered southern right whale population. The data, collected by Murdoch University in 2021-2022, provides relative abundance estimates and photo-identification for life history analysis. This project supports the national Southern Right Whale Conservation Management Plan.

Use Cases

• Modeling population trends for the 'western' southern right whale population based on long-term aerial survey counts.
• Estimating calving intervals and life history parameters based on associated photo-identification data.
• Assessing connectivity between 'western' and 'eastern' whale populations to test the 'cultural memory' hypothesis.
• Informing conservation management plan updates with new knowledge on population recovery status.

Strengths

• Data is part of a long-term monitoring program running since 1993, providing a multi-decade context.
• Supports a national conservation management plan for an endangered species listed under the EPBC Act.
• Integrates count data with photo-identification for individual whale tracking.

Limitations

• Row count and specific column definitions are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• The primary data outputs are referenced in child records, not directly in this metadata.

Provenance

Source

Murdoch University, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Aerial surveys and photo-identification.

Time Range

2021-2022, with program context since 1993.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 02:38:39.014489; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Australian coast from Perth (Western Australia) to Ceduna (South Australia).