Activities Near Barrow, Alaska

• Main Authors: J. C. “craig George, R. Suydam
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barrow; bowhead whale; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.487.5000; http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/_documents/sci_com/SC61docs/sc-61-brg23.pdf

An ice-based survey of bowhead whales was attempted near Barrow Alaska in spring 2009 with the primary objective of obtaining data for estimating detection probabilities and secondarily to obtain an abundance estimate. Four acoustic (“Popup”) recorders were successfully deployed in the lead early in the season. Visual watch began on 11 April and continued until 18 May. A total of 429 ‘new ’ (not seen before) and 115 ‘conditional ’ (possibly seen before) bowheads was seen in 201.0 hours of watch effort from the primary perch. The 2009 survey was hampered by some of the poorest environmental conditions in the 30-year history of the survey; hence, insufficient data were gathered to estimate detection probabilities or an abundance estimate. However, new techniques proved successful by greatly reducing survey logistics (i.e., ‘commute watches ’ and acoustic recorders), which will likely be the standard for future surveys. In 2010, another attempt will be made to estimate bowhead whale abundance using either ice-based methods, photo capture-recapture methods, or both.