Historical Population Characteristics of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus)

• Main Authors: In Hudson Bay, Randall R. Reeves, Susan E. Cosens
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Foxe Basin; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Lyon Inlet; Repulse Bay; Arctic; Balaena mysticetus; bowhead whale; Marble Island; Wager Bay
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.573.9394; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic56-3-283.pdf

ABSTRACT. Historical records of commercial whalers operating in northwestern Hudson Bay during the 19th century were examined for information on size, age, sex, and location of bowhead whales that were either sighted or killed. Correlations between body size and either oil yield or baleen length were used to estimate the relative age classes (calf, subadult, adult) of whales for which no explicit age-class information was reported in the whaling logbooks. Cow-calf pairs and subadults, as well as adult whales, were sighted or killed throughout the whaling season in the area extending from Wager Bay south to Marble Island. This finding indicates that whales of many different age classes were present south of Wager Bay, even during the open-water period when whaling activity shifted northward to include Repulse Bay and Lyon Inlet. Recent observations suggest that few bowhead whales occur south of Wager Bay during the open-water season and that the population in this area has not recovered from the effects of commercial whaling. It is not clear whether this group of bowheads was a separate stock or, alternatively, waters south from Wager Bay constituted a second calf-rearing area for a single Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin stock. Key words: bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, Hudson Bay, Foxe Basin, stock structure RÉSUMÉ. On s’est penché sur des documents historiques provenant de baleiniers commerciaux en activité dans le nord-ouest de la baie d’Hudson au XIXe siècle, afin d’extraire de l’information sur la taille, l’âge, le sexe et l’emplacement des baleines boréales qui avaient été aperçues ou tuées. On s’est servi des corrélations entre la taille des cétacés et la production d’huile ou la longueur des fanons pour estimer les groupes d’âge relatifs (baleineau, subadulte, adulte) de baleines pour lesquelles aucune