Madagascar - Applying Conservation Genetics...

MADAGASCAR - Applying Conservation Genetics to the Study of Humpback Whales

Begun in 1996 as a survey of humpback whales in Antongil Bay, the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation’s (CBC) project in Madagascar has grown into a multinational marine mammal conservation effort. In partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), project researchers have yielded significant new information about whale populations, their behavior, and migration patterns. The project has recently played the leading role in forming and establishing priorities for the Indo-South Atlantic Consortium on Humpback Whales (ISACH): a regional initiative by scientists, conservation professionals, and environmental advocates to coordinate research and conservation efforts for humpback whales in the southwestern Indian and southern Atlantic Oceans.

Program Highlights
In 2002, in collaboration with the University of Cape Town in South Africa and WCS, project leader Howard Rosenbaum and specialist Peter Ersts implemented a regional approach to whale conservation through simultaneous, systematic surveys of humpback whales on their wintering grounds and along migratory corridors. 2002 also inaugurated the first-ever collaborative, regional research-and-training cruise for the study of humpback whales. Conducted off the Natal Coast of South Africa, the voyage drew students and scientists from many countries around Africa as well as range states in the Indian Ocean. By establishing relationships that link these areas, project results will be better able to inform management decisions affecting these endangered whales.

Despite Madagascar’s recent political problems, Malagasy collaborator Yvette Razafindrakoto was able to conduct seven weeks of research and conservation activities in Antongil Bay in 2002. This marked the project’s seventh consecutive field season, and represents the longest continuous conservation program for humpback whales in the western Indian Ocean. Under the direction of Dr. Rosenbaum, the project team and its collaborators have been playing an increasingly significant role in participating in and developing regional conservation programs in neighboring Comoros and in the West African country of Gabon. These included the first-ever systematic aerial surveys and satellite tracking of humpback whales off the coast of Gabon and exploring new critical sites for this species using novel survey methodologies in the Comoros.

Vanessa Rasoamampianina, an outstanding Malagasy student who has worked on the project, entered the Master’s in Conservation Program at Columbia University in fall 2002. Ms. Rasoamampianina’s research will focus on evaluating the conservation value of whale watching educational materials worldwide, with the intent of synthesizing this information for the production of similar materials for whale watching in Africa and Madagascar. This work follows on a 2000 Malagasy whale watching law protecting whales along their migration route, based on input from the project scientists.

Dr. Rosenbaum has presented the conservation implications of the project’s research to the International Whaling Commission and the World Conservation Union, and at the end of May 2003, Rosenbaum attended and presented the project’s research to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. Rosenbaum and Malagasy collaborator Yvette Razafindrakoto are currently reviewing the World Conservation Union’s Action Plan for the Conservation of Cetaceans 2004-2010. Razafindrakoto recently published the first scholarly paper ever written about the whale song of Madagascar’s humpbacks. In 2001, she became the first woman from the Africa/Madagascar region to be nominated to the World Conservation Union's Cetacean Specialist Group. She joins Dr. Rosenbaum as a member.

Next Steps
Data analysis is ongoing, with the addition of new information each field season. In seven years, the team has collected over 1,500 tissue samples throughout the region. Researchers will continue to analyze the DNA and incorporate results into a genetic database of samples from Madagascar and elsewhere in the southern Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans, for a comprehensive assessment of movements between populations.

The team is also comparing data with those collected by researchers working in various areas in the Indo-South Atlantic region and corresponding Antarctic waters, in the hope of identifying individuals that migrate between these critical breeding and feeding habitats. By establishing relationships that link these areas, project results will be better able to inform management decisions affecting the whales.

In summer 2003, the team plans to launch its Web-accessible database of digital images, demographic and genetic data, and systematic survey data. This project will facilitate information sharing among the
students, scientists, and institutional collaborators working throughout the Indo-SouthAtlantic region.

Yvette Razafindrakoto has initiated her Ph.D. with the University of Antananarivo on life history and acoustic variation among the humpback whales of Madagascar. Over the next two years, Razafindrakoto will also spend several semesters working at universities in the United States and alongside CBC scientists.