Fig 1.
The location of the study area (green border) and the boundaries of the Southern Trench MPA (shaded) along the southern coastline of the outer Moray Firth in northeast Scotland.
Table 1.
Ethogram detailing the surface feeding behaviours / prey entrapment methods employed by minke whales frequenting the coastal Moray Firth.
Fig 2.
The spatial distribution of adult versus juvenile minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) sightings collated from long-term, dedicated boat surveys sightings in the Moray Firth study area between May and October 2001 to 2022 inclusive.
A total of 56,263 kms of boat survey effort resulted in 964 sightings of confirmed age-class (471 juveniles and 493 adults).
Fig 3.
The spatial associations of adult and juvenile minke whales in the Moray Firth study area with respect to the eco-geographic variables (a) water depth, (b) bathymetric slope, (c) proximity to shore and (d) sea bottom sediment type.
Table 2.
The mean water depth, slope and proximity to shore of adult and juvenile minke whale sightings recorded in the outer Moray Firth between 2001 and 2022 inclusive (n = 964).
Fig 4.
Partial effect plots displaying the component effect of (a) the smooth proximity to shore and the log seabed slope for (a) juvenile and (b) adult minke whales encountered in the Moray Firth study area between 2009 and 2022 inclusive (n = 570). Degrees of freedom are shown in parentheses on the y-axis label and the vertical lines above the x-axis show positions of the measured data points. The shaded areas represent 95% confidence intervals.
Fig 5.
“Active” adult minke predation events upon juvenile herring (a and b) and upon pre-wintering sprat (c and d). Photographs: Kevin Robinson.
Table 3.
Surface feeding specialisations recorded during individual focal follows (n = 238) of minke whales in the Moray Firth between 2001 and 2022.
Table 4.
Fish prey species sampled from individual feeding events (n = 95) of adult and juvenile minke whales between 2002 and 2017.
Table 5.
Intra-seasonal changes in minke whale feeding techniques and proximity to shore from 95 feeding events observed between 2002 and 2017.