Biologically Important Areas for Cetaceans Within US Waters - East Coast Region

In this review, we merge existing published and unpublished information along with expert judgment to identify and support the delineation of 18 Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) in U.S. waters along the East Coast for minke whales, sei whales, fin whales, North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, harbor porpoises, and bottle-nose dolphins. BIAs are delineated for feeding areas, reproductive areas, migratory corridors, and small and resident populations to enhance existing information already available to scientists, managers, policymakers, and the public. BIAs ranged in size from approximately 152 to 270,000 km(2). They are intended to provide synthesized information in a transparent format that can be readily used toward the analyses and planning under U.S. statutes that require the characterization and minimization of impacts of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals. BIAs are not intended to represent all important areas for consideration in planning processes; in particular, areas of high marine mammal density, typically identified based on a combination of systematic visual and/or acoustic detections coupled with quantitative modeling, are very important to consider, where available, in any assessment. To maintain their utility, East Coast BIAs should be re-evaluated and revised, if necessary, as new information becomes available.