Is it ‘boom times’ for baleen whales in the Pacific Arctic region?

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Author: Moore, Sue E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Chukchi Sea; Pacific; Balaena mysticetus; Balaenoptera acutorostrata; Balaenoptera physalus; baleen whale; baleen whales; bowhead whale; Chukchi; Megaptera novaeangliae; Pacific Arctic; Sea ice; Subarctic; Zooplankton
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0251; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0251; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0251

The marine ecosystem in the Pacific Arctic region has experienced dramatic transformation, most obvious by the loss of sea ice volume (75%), late-summer areal extent (50%) and change in phenology (four to six weeks longer open-water period). This alteration has resulted in an opening of habitat for subarctic species of baleen whales, many of which are recovering in number from severe depletions from commercial whaling in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Specifically, humpback, fin and minke whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae , Balaenoptera physalus and Balaenoptera acutorostrata ) are now regularly reported during summer and autumn in the southern Chukchi Sea. These predators of zooplankton and forage fishes join the seasonally resident grey whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) and the arctic-endemic bowhead whale ( Balaena mysticetus ) in the expanding open-ocean habitat of the Pacific Arctic. Questions arising include: (i) what changes in whale-prey production and delivery mechanisms have accompanied the loss of sea ice, and (ii) how are these five baleen whale species partitioning the expanding ice-free habitat? While there has been no programme of research specifically focused on these questions, an examination of seasonal occurrence, foraging plasticity and (for bowhead whales) body condition suggests that the current state of Pacific Arctic marine ecosystem may be ‘boom times’ for baleen whales. These favourable conditions may be moderated, however, by future shifts in ecosystem structure and/or negative impacts to cetaceans related to increased commercial activities in the region.