Ecological monitoring of polar bears and seals in Nunavut a step toward the future.

• Main Authors: Ferguson, Steven H., Peacock, Elizabeth, Derocher, Andrew, Obbard, Mary E., McKinney, Melissa A., Lunn, Nick, Luque, Sebastian, Stapleton, Seth, Bortoluzzi, Tara, Sahanatien, Vicki
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network 2012
• Subjects: Biological sciences; FOS Biological sciences; Community-based monitoring; Foxe Basin; Hudson Bay; Polar bear; Sanikiluaq; Seals; Telemetry; Traditional Ecological Knowledge TEK; Arctic; Nunavut; Greenland; Norway; Hudson; Gwamm; Beluga; Beluga*; Circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program; Climate change; inuit; IPY; ringed seal; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5443/11419; https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=11419

We deployed satellite transmitters on live ringed seals captured in Hudson Bay in the summer of 2009. Polar bear transmitters have been deployed in Hudson Bay in 2007, 2008, and 2009. This project will provide management information and advice for the Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin ringed seal stocks by: (1) delineating movements that may bring juveniles and possibly adults into areas hunted by other communities, (2) assessing sex- and age-specific site fidelity of individual seals during the breeding season, (3) defining critical foraging habitat, movement and diving behaviour, (4) defining spatio-temporal variation in these aspects of ringed seal foraging ecology to complement ongoing diet studies to address a purported shift in prey of top predators associated with climate change in the greater Hudson Bay region. The project also aims to engage northerners in ecosystem science, develop a community-based monitoring and sampling program for seal, and enhance Arctic science. The final outcome of this combined effort is to provide policy information necessary to inform northerners of how they can adapt to marine ecosystem changes associated with polar warming and the resulting changes to marine mammal distribution and abundance. This project is linked to other Canadian IPY projects: ¿GWAMM¿. ¿Marine Birds¿, ¿Circumpolar Flaw Lead¿, ¿Greenland Sharks¿, ¿Pan-Arctic Beluga¿, ¿Country Food Safety in a Changing Arctic¿, ¿People of a Feather and Ice¿ and internationally within the ESSAR and PAN-AME clusters. Collaborations have been developed to extend the community-based monitoring effort across the Canadian Arctic (Makavik, Fisheries Joint Management Commission, Nunatsiavut-Labrador Inuit Association, Ocean Tracking Network), across international governments (Greenland/Denmark, Russia, United States-Alaska, Norway, Finland), and organizations (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, Sustained Arctic Observing Network, Circumpolar Arctic Flora and Fauna). : Purpose: This ringed seal movement project is focused on the great Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin regions. Concerns have arisen over possible declines in ringed seal numbers in nearby western Hudson Bay as indicated by reduced pregnancy rate, pup survival and abundance, and older age structure. The condition of polar bears, the main predator of ringed seals, has also declined in Hudson Bay. Ringed seals are numerically, nutritionally, and economically one of the most important marine mammal species to Inuit communities of Hudson Bay, so knowledge of where and how seals use the bay is needed. This research is nested within a larger study that will build predictive models of seal reproduction, survival, feeding habits and movements relative to the ocean ecosystem and seasonal changes in sea-ice distribution. The conservation goal is to minimize any negative impact that climate warming and increased human economic activities may have on ringed seals in Hudson Bay. The proposed research is needed to assess the health status of the Hudson Bay ringed seal population and provide management criteria to preserve this species as the most important food for polar bears, cultural and economic resources for Inuit, and a genetic reservoir for the species in the Arctic. Movements of ringed seals in the greater Hudson Bay have been documented by Inuit through Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), but this knowledge is lacking from the scientific perspective, which has been improved by recent technological advances that include satellite tracking. Foraging habitat and behaviour, determined through diving patterns associated with locations, have never been documented for Hudson Bay ringed seals. Migration patterns and feeding habits of the different age classes and sexes, as well as pup survival, estimated through spring habitat characteristics, are critical for understanding population dynamics and building predictive models to forecast how the ringed seal population in Hudson Bay will respond to changes due to climate warming. The proposed study will therefore provide information necessary to assess how the current trends in climate change will affect thehabitat, behaviour and survival of ringed seals in Hudson Bay, and to suggest what measures could be taken to minimize the associated negative impacts on this population to maintain a hunted stock. : Summary: The polar bear is the top predator of the Arctic marine ecosystem. Due to its position in the marine food web, the polar bear is strongly affected by the food it eats. This project is investigating how climate change is affecting polar bear health including: foraging and diet, contaminant levels and Inuit traditional knowledge. Looking at these issues is providing a better understanding of how bears adapt their diets to changing conditions, how contaminants are accumulating across bear populations and how Inuit and northern knowledge can be used in environmental management. By speaking to elders, hunters and other northern residents, what community perspectives on polar bears, climate change and Inuit knowledge is also being surveyed.