The bar chart illustrates the populations of three marine mammals – seals, whales, and dolphins – recorded in the Gormez Straits between 2006 and 2018.
Overall, the populations of all three species experienced an increase over the twelve-year period. Notably, the dolphin population exhibited the most significant growth, while the seal population, despite an initial decline, recovered to become the largest by 2018. Whale numbers showed a more modest overall increase with some intermediate fluctuation.
Initially in 2006, seals were the most numerous at approximately 43. However, their numbers decreased by roughly half to around 25 in 2010 before recovering significantly to reach approximately 45 by 2018. In contrast, the whale population started at about 23 in 2006 and experienced a slight increase to around 26 in 2010. This was followed by a decrease to approximately 22 in 2014, before a modest rise to just under 30 by 2018. The dolphin population began with the lowest count of around 17 in 2006 but demonstrated a consistent and substantial increase in each subsequent four-year period, culminating in the highest population of approximately 52 in 2018, thereby surpassing both seal and whale numbers.