The Northwest Passage opens for bowhead whales

• Published in: Biology Letters
• Main Authors: Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter, Laidre, Kristin L., Quakenbush, Lori T., Citta, John J.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 2012
• Subjects: Global Change Biology; Arctic; Greenland; Northwest Passage; Pacific; Balaena mysticetus; Northwest passage; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3297376; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21937490; https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0731

The loss of Arctic sea ice is predicted to open up the Northwest Passage, shortening shipping routes and facilitating the exchange of marine organisms between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Here, we present the first observations of distribution overlap of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) from the two oceans in the Northwest Passage, demonstrating this route is already connecting whales from two populations that have been assumed to be separated by sea ice. Previous satellite tracking has demonstrated that bowhead whales from West Greenland and Alaska enter the ice-infested channels of the Canadian High Arctic during summer. In August 2010, two bowhead whales from West Greenland and Alaska entered the Northwest Passage from opposite directions and spent approximately 10 days in the same area, documenting overlap between the two populations.