Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Qupperneq 196

194 CATCH HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN OF THE FAROE ISLANDS
f £ / & & J f f,
Fig. 3. The number of individuals and pods of white-
sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) taken in the
Faroe Islands in the period 1872-2009. N = 158 pods
containing 9,435 individuals.

■ ■ ■
50 100 150 200250300350400450500550 Podsize
U
0
Fig. 4. The pod sizes of white-sided dolphins
(Lagenorhynchus acutus) taken in the Faroe Islands in
the period 1872-2009. N = 158 pods containing 9,435
white-sided dolphins.
and Zachariassen, 1989). Since 1988, also the
sex and total body length of the catch, in cm,
are included in the reports.
The catch data contains information
from 9,435 white-sided dolphins taken in
158 drives from the period 1872-2009 (Table
1). Of those, the locality is known for 146
drives containing 8,929 dolphins and the
date for 148 drives with 8,896 dolphins. The
sex is recorded from 39 pods containing
4,133 white-sided dolphins of which 3,177
were sexed (see also Table 2 in Bloch et al„
2003).
To compare with the catch data,
simultaneous sightings information are in-
cluded, made by local fishermen fishing in
the Faroese area and send to the Faroese
Museum of Natural Flistory all year round
(Fig. 1b; Skov et al„ 1995; Bloch et al„ 2001).
The data sampled offshore during the North
Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS) in 1987,
1989, 1995, 2001 are published by Lockyer
and Pike (2009) and Pike et al. (2009), while
the T-NASS from 2007 will be treated by
Mikkelsen (unpubl.). The NASS data were
sampled in high summer time, June-August,
and in an area in north from Barents Sea to
around Greenland and south to Spain, when
optimal (Lockyer and Pike, 2009).
Results and discussions
Temporal distribution
During the period 1872-2009, the annual
number of white-sided dolphins caught in
Faroese waters has ranged from 0-774 with
a maximum of 774 whales in 2002 and in av-
erage 168 animals and 2.8 pods in the years
containing catches, else 68.4 whales and 1.1
pods per year for the period 1872-2009. The
number of pods has been 0-10, with the
maximum obtained in both 1997 and 2002
(Table, 1; Fig. 3).
Discoloured white-sided dolphins
In two occasions, Fuglafjørður 12. August
2005 (271 whales) and Klaksvík 8. August
2006 (327 whales) one discoloured white-
sided dolphin occurred in the pod (Picture
1). Samples were taken oftheanimals forge-