Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus)
Bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus L., 1758) of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland population have been hunted by Inuit for millennia. Significant commercial harvests, conducted by European and American whalers for about 400 years, ended ca. 1915. A small co-managed subsistence harvest from this pop...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 2024-06-23T07:51:30+00:00 Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) Ferguson, Steven H. Higdon, Jeff W. Hall, Patricia A. Hansen, Rikke Guldborg Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 2024-06-11T04:09:34Z Bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus L., 1758) of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland population have been hunted by Inuit for millennia. Significant commercial harvests, conducted by European and American whalers for about 400 years, ended ca. 1915. A small co-managed subsistence harvest from this population has occurred inconsistently in Canada and Greenland, since 1996 and 2009, respectively. Since near extirpation from commercial whaling, population size has increased and the Inuit subsistence hunt now requires a harvest management framework that incorporates knowledge of abundance trends, population dynamics, and carrying capacity. Here, we use a model estimate of pre-commercial exploitation abundance to approximate carrying capacity and develop a management framework with reference points and corresponding stock status zones. When applied to recent abundance estimates, our framework indicates that the population is likely within the healthy (N 50 –N 70 ) zone. Thus, an appropriate management objective is to support continued population increase, with concurrent marginal harvesting, while maintaining the population level above the target reference point (N 70 ) of ca 12,000 whales. However, there remains large uncertainty about current population size and growth rate. The resulting data gaps require a plan for future research to monitor this population in the context of climate changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaena mysticetus Greenland inuit Frontiers (Publisher) Canada Greenland Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus L., 1758) of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland population have been hunted by Inuit for millennia. Significant commercial harvests, conducted by European and American whalers for about 400 years, ended ca. 1915. A small co-managed subsistence harvest from this population has occurred inconsistently in Canada and Greenland, since 1996 and 2009, respectively. Since near extirpation from commercial whaling, population size has increased and the Inuit subsistence hunt now requires a harvest management framework that incorporates knowledge of abundance trends, population dynamics, and carrying capacity. Here, we use a model estimate of pre-commercial exploitation abundance to approximate carrying capacity and develop a management framework with reference points and corresponding stock status zones. When applied to recent abundance estimates, our framework indicates that the population is likely within the healthy (N 50 –N 70 ) zone. Thus, an appropriate management objective is to support continued population increase, with concurrent marginal harvesting, while maintaining the population level above the target reference point (N 70 ) of ca 12,000 whales. However, there remains large uncertainty about current population size and growth rate. The resulting data gaps require a plan for future research to monitor this population in the context of climate changes. |
author2 |
Fisheries and Oceans Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ferguson, Steven H. Higdon, Jeff W. Hall, Patricia A. Hansen, Rikke Guldborg Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas |
spellingShingle |
Ferguson, Steven H. Higdon, Jeff W. Hall, Patricia A. Hansen, Rikke Guldborg Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
author_facet |
Ferguson, Steven H. Higdon, Jeff W. Hall, Patricia A. Hansen, Rikke Guldborg Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas |
author_sort |
Ferguson, Steven H. |
title |
Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
title_short |
Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
title_full |
Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
title_fullStr |
Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Developing a Precautionary Management Approach for the Eastern Canada-West Greenland Population of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) |
title_sort |
developing a precautionary management approach for the eastern canada-west greenland population of bowhead whales (balaena mysticetus) |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989/full |
geographic |
Canada Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Canada Greenland |
genre |
Balaena mysticetus Greenland inuit |
genre_facet |
Balaena mysticetus Greenland inuit |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.709989 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1802642621220257792 |