An international research team led by the University of Haifa’s apex predator expert, Dr. Aviad Scheinin, has documented what is thought to be the longest west-to-east trip made within the Mediterranean Sea by a single sperm whale — in this case, a young male.
In a study published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, the team used acoustic monitoring and photo identification to plot the route taken by the whale. He swam what is thought to be a record 2,800 kilometers (1,740 miles) from the Ligurian Sea off the Italian coast to an area near the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
Sperm whales in the Mediterranean spend their entire lives there. The sea offers shallow areas as well as deep plains and trenches bounded by slopes, which are important habitats for deep-diving cetaceans, such as sperm whales and Cuvier’s beaked whales.
The juvenile whale in question was not only found to have the longest range documented to date in the Mediterranean Sea. His route included the Strait of Sicily, which separates the Eastern and Western Mediterranean basins. The strait is only some 300 meters deep and evidence of sperm whale activity there is unusual.
The researchers said tracking the whales through these shallow areas could help prevent accidental deaths of the whales.
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“Automated passive acoustic monitoring of narrow, relatively shallow areas such as the Strait of Sicily could provide an opportunity to reduce mortality of individuals making long-distance movements within Mediterranean basins,” according to the article.
Scheinin, an apex predators principal investigator at the University of Haifa’s Morris Kahn Marine Research Station, conducted the study with Kirsten F. Thompson of Exeter University and Greenpeace Research Laboratories and Jonathan Gordon of St. Andrews University, both from the UK.
Two passive acoustic surveys were carried out during April and May 2022 onboard the Greenpeace vessel SY Witness.
About eight sperm whales were acoustically detected. One was photographed and deemed an immature male based on its size and characteristic head shape.
A juvenile sperm whale spotted off the coast of Nahariya in northern Israel, February 25, 2021. (Channel 12 News screen grab)
A subsequent comparison with eight Mediterranean photo-identification catalogs confirmed that this whale had been seen on 12 earlier occasions. The longest distance between sightings was 1,740 miles, the furthest documented movement of an individual sperm whale in the Mediterranean.
The team’s broader project uses passive acoustic monitoring and visual survey material to generate data on the presence and ecology of cetaceans within Israel’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Part of the funding comes through a research grant Scheinin secured as a National Geographic explorer.
“The knowledge gap of marine life in offshore waters in the Mediterranean is tremendous,” Scheinin said.
“Spotting these sperm whales is important for our knowledge about biodiversity because if a whale is willing to travel such great distances at considerable risk, it must have found a diverse and lush food source. Being apex predators of the deep sea makes them important bioindicators (living creatures that can help humans assess the health of an ecosystem).”
Dr. Aviad Scheinin, director of the Marine Apex Predator Lab at the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station at the University of Haifa Charny School of Marine Sciences, looks for marine mammals during the Israel-UK survey of Israel’s economic waters, in Spring 2022. (Elad Aybes, Greenpeace Israel)
The Mediterranean Sea is one of Earth’s most highly impacted enclosed seas. Heavily populated coastlines surround it, and temperatures are rising fast, making it a laboratory for the effects of climate change.
Marine mammal populations in the Mediterranean face multiple threats, including human-generated noise, other forms of pollution, and poor fisheries management.
However, in many regions, particularly the eastern Mediterranean, sperm whale population numbers, distribution, and threats remain poorly understood.
Greenpeace International’s newest sailing boat, Witness, arrives at the Ashkelon marina in southern Israel on March 31, 2022. (Dor Nevo)
Thanks to the team’s findings, the Energy Ministry has commissioned it to undertake additional offshore marine mammal research in Israel’s EEZ.
“Hopefully, this is a starting point of long-term research on the EEZ,” Dr. Scheinin said. “I hope we will better understand offshore marine mammals in our backyard and explore biodiversity in our Mediterranean Sea. This is a dream I have been waiting to fulfill for 20 years.”
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