2025

  • McPhee-Frew, J., Dedden, A.V,. Pirotta, V., Marshall, A., Waples, K., Raudino, H.C., and Rogers, T. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) continue migration after giving birth in temperate waters in Australia and New Zealand. Front. Mar. Sci. Sec. Marine Megafauna, Volume 12 - 2025, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1545526 Available Here.

2024

  • Pirotta, V. Cagnazzi, D., Dixon, B., Millar, S., Millar, J., Pickering, G., Butcher, P.A., Stockin, K.A., & Peters. K.J. (09 Oct 2024): Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) occurrence and foraging behaviour along the east coast of Australia, New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. Available here.

  • Pirotta, V. Oceans At Night. Illustrator Cindy Lane. CSIRO Publishing. 1 April 2024. Available here.

  • Pirotta, V. Humpback Highway- Diving into the mysterious world of whales. Newsouth Publishing. Available here.

2023 

  • Pirotta, V., Franklin, W., Mansfield, L., Lowe, J., and Peterson, O. (2023). Sighting records of “Migaloo” the white humpback whale provide evidence of Australian site fidelity and use of New Zealand waters as a migratory route. Australian Zoologist; doi: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2022.043 Available here.

  • Raoult, V., Pirotta, V., Gaston, T.F., Norman, B., Reynolds, S., Smith, T.M., Double, M., How, J., and Hayward, M.W. (2023). Widespread exposure of marine parks, whales, and whale sharks to shipping. Marine and Freshwater Research doi: https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF22050 Available here.

2022

  • Pirotta V, Shen K, Liu S, Phan HTH, O’Brien JK, Meagher P, Mitchell J, Willis J and Morton E (2022). Detecting illegal wildlife trafficking via real time tomography 3D X-ray imaging and automated algorithms. Front. Conserv. Sci. 3:757950. doi: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2022.757950/full Available here.

  • Pirotta, Vanessa, David P. Hocking, Jason Iggleden, and Robert Harcourt. (2022). Drone Observations of Marine Life and Human–Wildlife Interactions off Sydney, Australia. Drones 6, no. 3: 75. https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/6/3/75 Available here.

  • Brasier M and Pirotta V (2022) Humpback Whales Have Super Feeding Events in Australian Waters. Front. Young Minds. 10:713720. doi: 10.3389/frym.2022.713720 Available here.

  • Pirotta, V. McIntosh, R., Gray, R., Marsh, H and Lynch, M. (2022). Marine Mammals. In: Ethical wildlife research in Australia (Eds B. Smith, H. Waudby, C. Alberthsen). CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne, Australia. Publication date: 1 July 2022. Available here.

  • Pirotta, V. The Voyage of Whale and Calf. Metcalfe, S. CSIRO Publishing. 1 April 2022. Available here.

2021

  • Pirotta V, Owen K, Donnelly D, Brasier MJ, Harcourt R. (2021). First evidence of bubble-net feeding and the formation of ‘super-groups’ by the east Australian population of humpback whales during their southward migration. Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst. 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3621 Available here.

  • Prendergast, K., Vanderstock, A., Neilly, H., Ross, C., Pirotta, V. and Tegart, P. (2021), Potential and pitfalls of citizen science with children: Reflections on Pollinators in the Playground project. Austral Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13031 Available here.

  • Pirotta V. and Harcourt, R. (2021). Opportunistic sightings of blue whales off Sydney, Australia. Australian Zoologist; doi: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2021.020 Available here.

2020

  • Pirotta, V., Reynolds, W., Ross, G., Jonsen, I., Grech, A., Slip, D., and Harcourt, R. (2020). A citizen science approach to long term monitoring of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) off Sydney, Australia. Mar Mam Sci. 2020; 36: 472– 485. DOI: 10.1111/mms.12651 Available here.

  • Raoult, V.; Colefax, A.P.; Allan, B.M.; Cagnazzi, D.; Castelblanco-Martínez, N.; Ierodiaconou, D.; Johnston, D.W.; Landeo-Yauri, S.; Lyons, M.; Pirotta, V.; Schofield, G.; Butcher, P.A. (2020). Operational Protocols for the Use of Drones in Marine Animal Research. Drones, 4, 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones4040064 Available here.

  • Tulloch, V., Pirotta, V., Grech, A. et al. Long-term trends and a risk analysis of cetacean entanglements and bycatch in fisheries gear in Australian waters. Biodivers Conserv 29, 251–282 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01881-x Available here.

  • Tulloch, V., Grech, A., Jonsen, I., Pirotta, V. and Harcourt, R. (2020), Cost-effective mitigation strategies to reduce bycatch threats to cetaceans identified using return-on-investment analysis. Conservation Biology, 34: 168-179. Available here.

2019

  • Pirotta, V., Grech, A, Jonsen, ID, Laurance, William F. and Harcourt R (2019) Marine roads: Consequences of global shipping traffic for marine giants. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, doi:10.1002/fee.1987 Available here.

  • Raudino, H. C., J. A. Tyne, A. Smith, K. Ottewell, S. McArthur, A. M. Kopps, D. Chabanne, R. G. Harcourt, V. Pirotta, and K. Waples. (2019). Challenges of collecting blow from small cetaceans. Ecosphere 10(10): e02901. 10.1002/ecs2.2901 Available here.

2018

  • Geoghegan, J.L., Pirotta, V., Harvey, E., Smith, A., Buchmann, J.P., Ostrowski, M., Eden, J., Harcourt, R., Holmes, E.C. (2018). Virological Sampling of Inaccessible Wildlife with Drones. Viruses, 10, 300: 1-7, doi: 10.3390/v10060300 Available here.

2017

  • Pirotta V, Smith A, Ostrowski M, Russell D, Jonsen ID, Grech A and Harcourt R (2017) An Economical Custom-Built Drone for Assessing Whale Health. Front. Mar. Sci. 4:425. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2017.00425 Available here.

2016

  • Pirotta V, Slip D, Jonsen ID, Peddemors VM, Cato DH, Ross G, Harcourt R (2016) Migrating humpback whales show no detectable response to whale alarms off Sydney, Australia. Endang Species Res 29:201-209. Available here.

2014

  • Harcourt R., Pirotta V., Heller G., Peddemors V., Slip D. (2014) A whale alarm fails to deter migrating humpback whales: an empirical test. Endangered Species Research25:35-42. doi: 10.3354/esr00614 Available here.

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