Abstract
During foraging activity, baleen whales are generally dependent on the occurrence of dense prey patches. These are largely influenced by the interaction between ocean currents and the vertical distribution of individual prey. Identifying the spatio‐temporal dynamics of the areas where prey form dense aggregations, at submeso scale (~ 10 km) and over a wide area, is particularly informative for predicting the use of the busy coastal environment by some endangered marine mammal species. In this study, we simulate the distribution of advection‐induced copepod aggregations that are the main prey for the North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ), which is particularly threatened by conflicts with human activities. The distribution of aggregations results from simulated copepods' trajectories, inferred from a high‐resolution 3D hydrodynamic model coupled with a model simulating variable copepods' depth distribution. The results show that occurrences of densely aggregated simulated prey are positively correlated to the distribution of right whales and efficiently describe their main feeding areas. Moreover, daily aggregation simulations better predict right whales' distributions than longer‐term averaged simulations. This tool could be used effectively in combination with other models to predict potential foraging hotspots and aid the conservation of the North Atlantic right whale and other baleen whale species as well.