Arctic Wildlife Sketches ~;:z •
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---·------·--· ·------~~~~-~---- ... .' .. J Bowhead BalaenG mysricerus Bowheads were one of the first arcttc resources to be exploited 'by Europeam. and the most intensely hunted of all arctic whales. This exploitation had 11 profound effect on :he history of the r' Northwest Territories, and particularly on the Inuit. Their long association with whalers parallels that of the fur trade r and the Dene. Whaling began in the 17th century in the eastern arctic, but did not commcrKc on a regular basis until 1719. It was con ducted by American and European r whalers in the waters of Davis Strait, II Baffin Bay and Hudson Bay. After tluec li,' centuries of use, the fishery finally died out due to severely depleted stocks and the decreased demand for whale pro r ducts. In the western arctic, bowhead L whaling was conducted by Americans, beginning at the middle of the last cen tury and concluding about 1915. the r same time as in the east. Due to their slow speed; bowheads were easy targets, even when ships were powered by sail. Prized for their great yield of blubber and whalebone, they
,,~"''"' and a sister species were given the name ! "right whale" becau;;e they were the l ' right whales "to hunt. The label s:ill lingers today, as the bowhead is also known as the Greenland right whale.
The bowhead may reach 20 m in length and 50,000 kg i~ weight. I_t. has an enormous head, takmg up a Lmd of its length. There are 650-720 baleen plates in its mouth, ~me ~ore tha~ 4 Y2 m long. The body coJour IS predomi nantly blue-black, except for some creamy patches ori the lower jaw: Its blubber is the thickesr of all whales.
The bowhead has a d:iscontinuom circumpolar range in arctic waters. In Canada there are two separate popula ..... tions. Bowheads in the western arctic summer in the Beaufort Sea/Amundser1 i .of the NorthvvestTerritories Order Cetacea Gulf area and winter in the Bering Sea. Those in the eastern arctic summer in Lancaster Sound, Davis Strait and northern Hudson Bay; they winter in the , Whales belong to the Order Cetacea, The beluga and narwhal are closely loose ice or open waters of Davis Strait, of which there are about 80 species, in ::-elated. Both are toothed whales belong r eluding dolphins and porpoises. Only mg to the same family (Monodontidae), off the west coast of Greenland, and i three have extensive distribution in the and are similar in size, which is rather may venture as far south as northern L , Labrador. Canadian Arctic: beluga (De/phinapterus small by whale standards. The bowhead leucas), narwhal (Monodon monoceros), is a baleen w~ale, in which teeth have and bowhead (Balaena mysticetus). The ~ been replaced by whalebone or baleen, Migrating bowhead5: attain speeds_ of : killer whale (Orcinus orca) is seen occa which are fringed plates of agglutinated - 2-4 knots and can submerge for penods ,l · sionally in the Beaufort Sea, and is a of at least 30 minutes. They use this . rare but .:egular visitor to the eastern hairs suspended from the upper jaw. All three species lack a dorsal fin, which is capacity to move long distances between ·r--, arctic:; Davis Strait is the approximate openings in heavy ice. :1 northern Jimi.t for a number of other believed to be an adaptation t0 ice infested arctic waters. jJ~~=n=l~·------~------~ Very little information is available on Although the commercial fishery Newborns, however, are brown and the biology and population dynamics of ceased to operate in 1915, Inuit in the juveniles are grey witn mottled patches this whale. It is assumed they are "long eastern arctic continued to take of white. The final change to an lived" with a low reproductive rate. bowheads sporadically for subsistence unblemished white occurs in the 4th or Physical maturity in both sexes is up until the 1970's. In 1979 all hunting 5th year. reached at a length of about 15 m. of bowheads in Canadian waters was Mating most probably occurs from prohibited, except under spedal permit Circumpolar in distribution, the February to March. The gestation period issued by the Minister of the Dept. of beluga is the most common whale in lasts 10-12 months with the calves born Fisheries and Oceans. No permits have Canadian arctic waters. During summer in March or April. A single calf 4 m been issued, and the species is con in the Northwest Territories there are long is born. Lactation usually lasts sidered endangered. thought to be separate populations oc 12-14 months. curring in Lancaster Sound, Cumberland The United States permits Alaskan In Sound, Ungava Bay, Hudson Bay and Bowheads are gregarious, feeding in uit to conduct a limited subsistence hunt the Beaufort Sea. The four eastern small groups. Their food is mainly small for bowheads of the western arctic populations winter of:" the west coast of crustacea called krill. They feed near the population. The hunt is controversial at Greenland and in Hudson Strait, surface using their large mouths as a time when many :feel that any harvest whereas the single we~tern population scoops. After taking in a brge quantity at all may jeopardize the continued ex w;nters off the cor:.st of Russia in the of water, the mouth is closed and the istence of this species. · Bering Sea. In addition to travelling water forced back out, trapping the greater distances, the .atter group also small crustaceans on the br;leen fringes. e:\periences more seve:-e ice conditions. The massive tongue is then used to move Beluga Delphinapterus leucas Generally, belugas arrive in the trapped prey to the guliet. Belugas vary in length and weight summering areas by June and July, and according to location. They are medium The eastern and western arctic popula m~ve out to wintering areas by the end sized throughout most of the Canadian of September before freeze-up. In tions are believed to be separate stocks. arctic, at lengths of 4-5 m and weights The latter is the largest remaining M·uch and April they can be seen in the of 540-765 kg. They reach greater sizes narrow leads along the edge of the fast population in the world, ar.d is roughly elsewhere in their :range, except in estimated at 2000-3000 aninals. The ic< . Their presence can be detected by Hudson Bay where they are smaller. br·!athing holes which they make when eastern arctic population, which suffered Females are not as large as males. more intense exploitation for a longer thi' ice is thin. During periods of maximum ice cover, p::>ds of.,whales period, is believed to number only a few Belugas are also called white whales, frequent isolated areas of open water, hundreds. which refers to their adult colouration. ; . [ [ [
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r called polynyas, and are usally separated gregated, boats were used to herd the usually spiralled in a counter-clockwise !, · from one another by extensive areas of whales close to shore in large numbers direction, is a myster). Although many impenetrable ice. where they were stranded at low tide. In have speculated that i: may be used for addition to oil, the skin was utilized for defence or for securing food, it is most ""'""~ Belugas give birth between March and leather, which became for a brief time a likely a secondary sexual characteristic. 'August, with a peak occurring in June specialty item. Behavioural and anatomical evidence and July. Calving is believed to take suggests it is used in aggressive r place in warm shallow rivers. Some well- Later on in the 20th century, small encounters by males when trying to il • known calving areas are the Mackenzie commercial operations were set up in obtain mates. ' ' Delta, Cunningham Inlet, and the Seal Churchill, Whale Cove and Pangnir and Nelson Rivers in western Hudson tung. The latter ceased operation in the The body length of male~may reach 5 r" Bay. early 1960's, while the first two lasted m, while th' tusk is another 2 or 3 m. t ' until 1970. Since then all commercial Females are smaller, \"ith an average Females usually reach maturity by age whaling in Canadian waters has been weight of 600 kg. Males may weigh r 5 and males by age 8 or 9. Conception banned, and only subsistence hunting by more than twice as much as females.
11 occurs in early May with the gestation Inuit and Dene allowed. In 1980 a quota l ·period lasting 14Yz months. Lactation of 40 was applied to the Pangnirtung The narwhal has a more restricted lasts about 2 years and most females harvest. This is the only quota distribution than the beluga. It is rproduce a single calf once in 3 years. It restriction for the species. primarily a whale of the eastern arctic t is suspected that the male is with the largest concentrations occurring 'polygamous. Summer population estimates are as in Lancaster Sound ~nrl off the coast of follows: about 10,000 in the high arctic, northeastern Baffin Island. A secondary r During summer, belugas occur in 10,000 in western Hudson Bay, 5,000 in centre of abundance is in the Repulse l ;shallow water, or in coastal or estuarine the western arctic, and I ,000 or less in Bay area and around northern South areas, where they prey on bottom- Cumberland Sound. The total Canadian ampton Island. Narwhal are seldom st:en dwelling fish and benthic invertebrates. population is believed to be in the south of the Arctic CiPCle. Their teeth, which may be as many as 11 vicinity of 30,000. r.l ·in each half-jaw, are conical and Like the beluga, the narwhal is designed for gripping prey rather than migratory. It vacates most of its rfor rending or crushing. Squid and Narwhal Monodon monoceros Canadian range during the winter fast L .arctic cod are important food items. ice period. It winters throughout the' The name "narwhal" is old Norse in heavy pack ice of Bamn Bay and north Belugas have few predators outside of origin. Derived from a word meaning ern Davis Strait, with some in the mouth rman, although killer whales and polar "corpse," it refers to the colour of adult of Hudson Strait. Mos: then migrate L ,bears occasionally attack them. Entrap- narwhals, which are white-grey with north through Baffin Eay during the ment in the ice is a hazard which usually blotches of dark grey. This mottled period between March and May, r-fesults in death. Longevity is not pattern is absent in the young. following the receding :Jack ice off the i cer.tain, 25-30 years is the current west coast of Greenland as far north as L estimate. The tusk for which this whale is so the Thule area. Some cnntinue north famous is really a ~ooth. Found only in into Smith Sound but most turn west Belugas were subject to limited com adult males, it is ah erupted incisor on and southwest, entering Jones and r the left side of the upperjaw. Though i mercia! use in the eastern arctic during Lancaster Sounds in June and July. A other teeth are pre$ent, they are not L the last century when they were taken to small undetermined number, however, supplement the declining bowhead functional, being hidden in the gum. move from the wintering area through rharvest. In areas where belugas con- The function of the tusk, which is ' :;,_ l.. Hudson Strait to northern Hudson Bay represent semi-isolated populations with for fairly substantial sums of money. and Foxe Basin. The autumn migration restricted genetic interchange, or Each tusk must have a tag attached t generally retraces the spring and early whether all of the animals belong to a prove it was legally taken. summer movements. single, freely breeding population. The summer population estimate for Lan To take a tusk out of the Northwes The narwhal inhabits deeper waters caster Sound is about 20,000. Numbers Territories a Marine Mammal Export and dives more deeply than the beluga. are unknown for northern Hudson Bay Permit must first be obtained. To lea It does not usually associate with river and Foxe Basin. the country an export permit issued mouths, but is generally found in certair: under the authority of the Conventior deep fiords for much of the ice-free Narwhal have never been a target for on International Trade in Endangered period. Food items consist of molluscs, commercial whalers, although tusks were Species (CITES) i.s required. crustaceans and fish, especially squid, regularly traded for. Current legislation shrimp and arctic cod . restricts their use to Inuit for subsistence or domestic reasons. A quota system, Killer Whale Orcinus orca The age at sexual maturity is not yet which came into effect in 1977, requires Killer whales have a reputation for known, but is thought to be the same as hunters to possess a tag for each animal ferocity unequalled among the ceta in its only close relative, the beluga. taken. In 1983, the total Canadian quota ceans. They hunt in packs of 3-40 Males are probably polygamous. Breed was 542 distributed throughout 21 arctic animals, and prey un squid, fish, sea ing occurs about mid-April, and as in communities (1 3 in the Baffin, 5 in the birds, seals and o=her cetaceans. They the beluga, the gestation period is about Keewatin, and 3 in the Central Arctic dislodge basking seals from ice floes b 15 months with peak calving occurring Regions). Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet tipping the floes from below, and in late June to mid-July. Lactation lasts have the highest quotas with 100 each. attacks on beluga and narwhal are wei about 2 years and most females produce known. When kiHer whales are in the one calf every 3 years. Today, narwhal are hunted mainly for vicinity, other ma:-ine mammals the tusk and the muktuk. Although reportedly take shdter among the ice Information about interrelationships females are occasionally taken, the hunt floes or in deeper fiords . In addition, among the various summering popula focuses on males. The tusks are sold to beluga and narwhal are sometimes tions is scant. It is not knO\"n if they local stores and sometimes to tourists driven close to shor~,-where they fall easy prey to Inuit hunters. It is possibl that the summer diistribution of beluga and narwhal are partly controlled by tt r presence .o f killei '>v'hales .... L Colouration is shiny black with dis .;.._.------· --- ·· -~-·--- ··- - ·- - ---~- . ... tinct white areas 011 belly, chin, flank and behind the eye. A grey saddle pate whose shape can be used to identify individuals, is found behind the dorsal fin . Adult males average 6 m in length but may reach 9 m, while females are smaller at 4-5 m. As befitting their predatory nature,Jbeir teeth are large and number 10-12 in each half-jaw. Th dorsal fin is prominent, reaching 2 m i: height. ..
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I l [ Killer whales are distributed through Management (which cover bowheads). Fishery ..J)Ut th~orld's oceans but are more Officers are stationed im. four settlements tbundaiitin· cooler temperate waters. In As the preceding account has shown above the treeline: Inuvik, Rankin Inlet . :_,he Canadian arctic they are found from there are still many gaps in our know- ' Frobisher Bay a:1d .~'ond Inlet. Three ' Davis Strait to as far north as Lancaster ledge of whales. So much of their lives biologists and four research scientists (of is spent out of our sight, beneath the r~und. They also penetrate Hudson Bay ~hom four are based in Winnipe~ two waves and in isGlated areas that fruitful l ..:Ia Hudson Strait, and are rare visitors m Montreal and on·~ in Frobisher Bay) ·•o the Beaufort Sea. They follow study. is diff~cul t. Yet the fi~st step to as well as their staff. are currently ' migrating herds of seals and other ensurmg their survival lies in solving the involved in studies on arctic whales. •hales to summering areas, but do not many mysteries which surround them. Their work focmes on a number of [ ~l!'lllY arrive until after the pack ice has beluga, narwhal and bowhead popula Originally Canada belonged to the dispersed. They tend to avoid areas of tion_s, and inc!ud.es c~nsusing, studying heavy ice due to their large dorsal fin International Whaling Commission habitat and dtstnbut10n. monitoring nd. therefore do not penetrate far into (IWC): which was organized in 1946 by hunts, and collecting samples for [ . ,1e Ice-covered arctic archipelago. 22 nations. The Commission's purpose reproductive biology and biochemical was to provide for the conservation of Oct_ob~r finds them migrating southward analysis. whale stocks anJ the orderly develop rl:j.!Jl m ~d~anc~ of the ~ew ice ~over. ment of the whaling industry. One of The Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans is the steps taken \vas the establishment of · There IS little mformatwn available on also collaborating with the World commercial whaling quotas. numbers, populations, population struc- Wildlife Fund (Canada) on a program Controversy, however, surrounded these re,_ age of sexual maturity or repro termed "Whales Beneath the Ice". />:;. quotas and the extent to which they ,lttive rate. Mating is thought to occur private, non-profit organization, the were being honoured. In 1972 Canada r~rom Ma~ to July. The gestation period World Wildlife Fund (Canada) is one of b~nned commercial whaling and in 1982 IS approxim~tely 16 m.onths and a single 27 national orgar..izations dedicated ti) withdrew from this organization. r~u IS born m November or December the conservation :>f wildlife. In 1982 the However, Canada still provides harvest l _Jngevity is prob~ly 40 to 50 years a~d Canadian organization raised funds for group.s of killer whales are likely statistics and bio!ogical information to the IWC's scientific committee. a 3-year $750,000 program to conserve FQhesive family units. ar~tic whales. Guided by a steering com :1 lj Whales in Canadian waters are mittee of Canadian experts, the Whafes I.. Killer whales are not hunted in the Beneath the Ice program has identified ~ana~ed by the federal Dept. of Canadian arctic, except when they can eight specific projects: two on beluga, Fishenes and Oc1~ans, with the following killed with impunity, due to the fear two on narwhal and four on bowheacis. .ey inspire in northern communities. laws governing utilization: the Fisheries r Act, the Beluga Protection Regulations, They are: the Narwhal Prot;~ction Regulations and the Cetacean protection Regulations Beluga Projects: r ... 1. Critical Estuary Study. t ' 2. Marking/Tagging Stucy.
- Comparative sizes of beluga, narwhal, killer whale and bowhead.
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Rod Roycroft
r- 1 l ~arwhal Projects: Current Utilization The Delta is extensive in area but very shallow (2m) in depth. This makes .Agin~udy. Belugas are hunted most extensively in ; Distribution/Abundance Study. belugas relatively easy to hunt since they r the western arctic, where they are taken cannot escape by sounding. The hunt is by Dene as well as Inuvialuit for subsis Bowhead Projects: carried out in small boats powered by tence. All hunting occurs in the vast outboard motors. Although the water is Critical Area Study. Mackenzie Delta by the communities of [ murky, the presence of a whale can be Impacts of Noise. Aklavik, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. detected by its bow wave .. The whale is 7. Eastern Arctic Population Update. People move to traditional whaling approached by a boat and harpooned r Western Arctic Population camps as early as June and stay as late when it surfaces. It is then followed ll. . Assessment. as September. In recent years Aklavik until it surfaces a second time and killed residents have favoured Bird Camp, by rifle fire. Inuit involvement is considered essen Whitefish Station West and occasionally Ll to the program, and the key to an Shingle Point; people from Inuvik have Muktuk (the outer skin plus a portion [ fective conservation strategy for used Indian Camp, Kendall Island and of the blubber layer) is a prized delicacy. Canada's arctic whales. Whitefish Station East; while whalers It is also an important so.Jrce of nutri from Tuk generally operate directly out tion in northern latitutdeE, being rich in of the settlement.
[ [ [ r Known range of Beluga Whales in the Canadian Arctic. Known range of Killer Whales in the Canadian Arctic. _r ______~ L,
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fawn range of Bowhead Whales in the Canadian Arctic. Known range of Narwhals in the Canadian Arc:ic.
it ) . ------. - -... ------.. --- . ' [ ·--·"'r"f! ·t.t.... r.~:.. vhamllt C. Eaten raw when fresh, it is In the, eastern arctic the hunt focuses Further Reading I also boiled and canned in plastic pails. more on narwhal than beluga. North It remains "good" for about 7 months, Baffin communities such as Arctic Bay, Banfield, A. W. F. 1974. The Mammals after which it becomes very strong- Broughton Island, Clyde River and of Canada. University of Toronto Press. r[•·. tasting, although some do not object to Pond Inlet, concentrate almost the flavour. The meat is cut into long exclusively on narwhal, even when Davis, R. A., K. J. Finley and W. J. strips and dried, smoked and bagged. belugas are present. Richardson. 1980. Th~ Present Status Most of it is eaten (dipped in whale oil) and Future Management of Arctic [ but some of it is fed to dogs. Since narwhal frequent deeper water Marine Mammals in Canada. Science than beluga, the hunting technique is Advisory Boar:d of the Northwest In recent years wastage has been a different. The whales are wounded first Territories. r problem, mainly due to the impetuosity by rifle fire in order to slow them down, I of young inexperienced hunters. As a before being killed. The use of harpoons Hummel, M. 1983. Whales beneath the l, · result, a monitoring system was insti- is not as widespread as in the western ice: an arctic conservation strategy. tutrd by the N. W. T. Dept. of Renew arctic, partly due to their being less Canadian Wildlife Administration, June r allle Resou:-ces in 1978. Funding was effective at the floe edge, and also partly 1983. Northwest Territories/Yukon L , provided to hire monitors for each due to the wildness of the hunt, Renewable Resources. whaling camp. Selected by local Hunters especially among the younger men, who and Trappers Associations, the moni have less patience with them. Davis, R. A. and W. R. Koski. 1980. r Jor~· fob involved the recording of kill Recent observations of the bowhead '· . data (including l'osses), as well as In the high arctic, the hunt may begin whale in the eastern Canadian high ens· tring that each party carried the as early as May at the fl;:>e edge, arctic. Report to the International r proper equ:pment and was headed by an continue through the spring when Whaling Commission 30. 1 experiencec whaler. In the 4 years which narwhal appear in ice cracks, and '· , the author spent--in Inuvik, each summer throughout the summer in open water, Mansfield, A. W., T. E. Suick and B. accompanying whalers based at Kendall before concluding in October when the Beck. 1975. The narwnal Monodon r Island, not only was wastage non- narwhal leave the deep flords they have monoceros) in eastern Canadian waters. -[, , existent, but the authority and wise been frequenting. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board direction of the headman was clearly of Canada 32(7). evident. Or.e of the instructions most As a result of these differences in r strongly impressed on whaling parties environment and hunting practices, the Sargeant, D. E. and P. F. Brodie. 1975. L.. was the necessity of harpooning the problem of wastage is serious. As many Identity, abundance and recent status of whdes before shooting them. as half of the whales struck are not populations of white whales (Delphinap landed, and of those which are, the terus leucas) in Nor:h America. Journal [ In 19i.O the monitoring system was meat is rarely utilized. The muktuk is a of the Fisheries Resear:ch Board of · · taken over by the Dept. of Fisheries and delicacy but even that is not always Canada 32 (7). Oc-eans, ar.d is continuing with positive saved. r res·Jlts in reducing waste and improving L. hunter suc~ss. In I 982 similar moni Belugas are hunted by communities in toring systems were set up in the lower Baffin and southern Keewatin. Northwest0 Repulse Bay is the only community in communities of Arctic Bay, Igloolik, Territories Renev.able Resources r Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet and Repulse the Keewatin which regularly takes L. Bay. narwhal. Northwest Territories Information © ISBN 0-7708-7130 Wayne Spencer Pond Inlet r 1983 r Western South North Raffia & l: .. Arctic Keewatin Baffin Upper Eastern Arctic I I I I [ arviq arviq arviq arviq ·-----~----·------