Distribution and Numbers of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) in Northwestern Hudson Bay in August 1995

• Main Authors: Susan E. Cosens, Stuart Innes
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Arctic; Baleine; Frozen Strait; Hudson; Hudson Bay; la Baleine; Nunavut; Repulse Bay; Balaena mysticetus; baleine boréale; bowhead whale; inuit
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.172.4; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic53-1-36.pdf

ABSTRACT. There is interest among the Inuit of Nunavut in renewing subsistence hunting of bowhead whales. Managing a limited harvest while allowing for stock recovery from commercial whaling requires some estimate of stock numbers. The large geographic range of bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic precludes cost-effective estimation of total stock size; however, estimates of summer aggregation sizes can be derived from sampling of summering areas. Although these numbers do not represent total stock size, they do provide indicators of the minimum number of bowheads known to be present and may be useful as indices for monitoring stock recovery. A visual aerial survey conducted in northwestern Hudson Bay resulted in an estimate of 75 ± 27.5 (95 % Confidence Interval = 17–133) bowhead whales. This estimate is conservative because it was not corrected for submerged whales or for whales that were at the surface but not seen by observers. Most sightings of whales were made in Repulse Bay and Frozen Strait. Key words: aerial survey, bowhead whale, distribution, northwestern Hudson Bay, stock size RÉSUMÉ. Parmi les Inuit du Nunavut, on s’intéresse à reprendre la chasse de subsistance à la baleine boréale. La gestion d’une récolte limitée, qui permettrait au stock de baleine boréale de se rétablir des effets de la pêche commerciale, demande qu’on ait une idée du nombre d’individus qui composent cette population. L’ampleur du territoire géographique de la baleine boréale dans l’Arctique canadien oriental écarte la possibilité de réaliser une estimation du nombre total d’individus, qui soit efficace en terme de coûts; il est cependant possible de dériver des estimations de la taille des concentrations estivales à partir d’échantillonnages