Tagging White Whales in the Canadian Arctic

• Published in: Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
• Main Authors: Sergeant, D. E., Brodie, P. F.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1969
• Subjects: General Medicine; Arctic; Hudson Bay; Hudson; Petersen; Delphinapterus leucas
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f69-202; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f69-202

White whales, Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, were tagged in the estuary of Seal River, Man., in western Hudson Bay in the summers of 1967 and 1968. Seven hundred harpoon tags were applied to the dorsal part of the body while chasing the animals, and 118 Petersen disc tags through the dorsal ridge after stranding the animals in shallow water on a falling tide. Three recovered harpoon tags include one observed on a living whale at the same site after a year, and two taken from netted whales at fisheries northward along the western coast of Hudson Bay, 300–800 km from the site of tagging and 5–7 weeks after tagging.