Occurrence and anthropogenic threats affecting humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) inthe Southern Iberian Atlantic Waters

Migration is crucial behavior for many animals, allowing them to adapt their life history requirements to their environments' temporal and spatial variability (Kettemer et al. 2022). Among marine mammals, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) stand out as a highly migratory species, and their survival is heavily reliant on established migratory routes (Kennedy et al. 2013; Peres dos Santos et al. 2022; Stone et al. 1990). Although this species is one of the most researched marine mammals worldwide, very little is known about its behavior in various parts of the world. For nearly 50 years, photographic identification (photo-ID) techniques have facilitated in-depth studies of their long-distance migration patterns (Chosson et al. 2024; Katona and Whitehead 1981; Reeves et al. 2006; Schevill and Backus 1960). This type of identification is possible because individual humpback whales possess distinctive pigmentation patterns on the ventral surface of their flukes, as well as scars and variations in the serration of the trailing edges (Carlson et al. 1990; Katona and Beard 1990; Reeves et al. 2006; Schevill and Backus 1960). These unique features are often complemented by shape variations and marks in the dorsal fins (Blackmer et al. 2006; Franklin et al. 2020). Notably, the North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog (NAHWC), maintained by Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA (https://www.coa.edu/allied-whale/), has documented over 12,000 individual humpback whales from the North Atlantic Ocean basin (Jones et al. 2025).