Global Review of the Conservation Status of Monodontid Stocks
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Global Review of the Conservation Status of Monodontid Stocks the International Whaling Commis- the EEZ of each country). The JCNB Preface sion (IWC). Among its 89 member makes recommendations on the con- countries are four of the five mon- servation and management of these odontid range states (Canada being shared stocks to the appropriate au- Two modern species of toothed the sole non-member). thorities of both countries. whales, the narwhal, Monodon monoc- The Scientific Committee of the The North Atlantic Marine Mammal eros, and the beluga or white whale, IWC has on two occasions reviewed the Commission (NAMMCO) was estab- Delphinapterus leucas, comprise the world’s stocks of belugas and narwhals lished in 1992 by the Faroe Islands, family Monodontidae. Both are en- (both species in 1992, IWC, 1993; only Greenland, Iceland, and Norway to co- demic to the Arctic and, in the case of belugas in 1999, IWC, 2000). These re- operate in the management and con- belugas, also certain portions of the views identified 29 stocks of belugas servation of all marine mammals in sub-Arctic. While the narwhal’s range and 3 regional stocks of narwhals. Be- the area. NAAMCO regularly reviews is centered in high-latitude waters con- luga stocks were considered in detail, the status of the stocks of narwhals nected to the North Atlantic Ocean and available information on range, and belugas within its remit. (eastern Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, abundance, trends in abundance, hunt- The NAMMCO Scientific Commit- and Franz Josef Land), the beluga’s ing removals, threats, and legal status tee’s Working Group on the Popula- distribution is nearly circumpolar, with were reviewed and summarized. The tion Status of Beluga and Narwhal in substantial populations not only in the reviews identified four stocks of high- the North Atlantic (NBWG) met for High Arctic but also in the Sea of Ok- est concern due to small population the first time in 1999 and carried out hotsk, the southern Bering Sea, Hud- size, depletion from historical levels, a detailed review of all stocks of both son Bay, the northern Gulf of Alaska, and currently declining trend, and it species in Atlantic and adjacent waters and the St. Lawrence River estuary. made recommendations regarding fu- (NAMMCO1). In 2000, the NBWG Range states of monodontids are the ture research. carried out an assessment of belugas in Russian Federation, the United States In the North and Arctic Atlantic, West Greenland and concluded that the of America, Canada, Denmark (Green- two regional management bodies op- stock there was substantially depleted land), and Norway. erate. The Canada-Greenland Joint and that harvest levels were several In addition to government agencies Commission on the Conservation times the sustainable yield, likely lead- within those states, several interna- and Management of Narwhal and Be- ing to extirpation of the stock within tional and regional bodies are involved luga (JCNB) was established in 1991 in the assessment and conservation of 1NAMMCO. 2000. Report of the 7th Meet- to conserve and manage the shared ing of the NAMMCO Scientific Committee. beluga and narwhal populations. The stocks of narwhals and belugas (i.e., In NAMMCO (Editor), Annual report 1999, p. oldest and most inclusive of these (in those stocks that migrate between Ca- 125–214. N. Atl. Mar. Mammal Comm., Trom- terms of number of state members) is sø, Norway (avail. at http://nammco.wpengine. nadian and Greenlandic waters and com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annual-Re- doi: https://doi.org/10.7755/MFR.81.3–4.p spend at least part of each year within port-1999.pdf). 81(3–4) iii 20 years. The NAMMCO Scientific organizing and convening the review then posted on the NAMMCO website Committee endorsed this conclusion jointly with the IWC Scientific Com- (NAMMCO5). and recommended various conserva- mittee. The sub-committee formally This issue of Marine Fisheries Re- tion measures, including the immediate recommended this approach (IWC, view includes a revised and updated reduction of harvests to prevent further 2013a:296), which was endorsed by the version of the workshop report (Hobbs decline of the stock, as well as priori- full Committee, and a steering com- et al., 2019) and several related papers tized research topics (NAMMCO, p. mittee (consisting of Arne Bjørge from that were developed by workshop par- 2 136–145 and Annex 3) . Close coop- Norway, Randall Reeves and Robert ticipants. Three of these papers con- eration between the Scientific Commit- Suydam from the United States, Steve cern stocks of belugas in the Russian tees of NAMMCO and the JCNB was Ferguson from Canada, and representa- Far East (Shpak et al., 2019) and west- recommended (NAMMCO, p. 75)3 and tives of the IWC (Greg Donovan) and ern Alaska (Lowry et al., 2019; Citta a Joint Working Group (JWG) was es- NAMMCO (Christina Lockyer, Ma- et al., 2019). Most of the recognized tablished, which met for the first time rio Acquarone, and later Jill Prewitt)) beluga stocks are differentiated by mi- in 2001 and has reviewed and assessed secretariats were duly appointed to the status of shared stocks regularly pursue planning and implementation tochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data, and since then (2004, 2005, 2009, 2012, (IWC, 2013b:58). Although the Glob- Skovrind et al. (2019) provide a cir- 2014, 2015, 20174). “National” stocks al Review of Monodontids workshop cumpolar review of beluga mtDNA are assessed either within the frame- continued to be discussed at annual variation. NAMMCO has developed work of NAMMCO or by a national IWC Scientific Committee meetings a metapopulation model for the nar- management body separately. (IWC, 2014:362), the Sub-committee whal stocks that winter in Baffin Bay, During the decade following 1999, on Small Cetaceans was advised in and Watt et al. (2019) explain how as substantial new information on 2014 that NAMMCO had decided to this model is used to allocate catches the delineation and status of beluga convene and undertake the global re- by the communities that hunt the nar- and narwhal stocks became avail- view separately from the IWC (IWC, whals from this metapopulation to the able, the need to update the previous 2015:307). We emphasize, however, individual stocks. Statistics on remov- reviews became increasingly evident. that scientists from the range states, in- als of narwhals by hunting in Green- At its annual meeting in 2010, the cluding those who regularly participate land from 1862 to 2017 (Garde et al., IWC Scientific Committee’s Standing in either the IWC Scientific Commit- 2019) were used with other data and Sub-committee on Small Cetaceans tee or the NAMMCO Scientific Com- the metapopulation model in a Bayes- noted that a “joint special meeting or mittee and NBWG, or both, continued ian analysis to generate management workshop on monodontids” involv- to collaborate closely in planning and advice for the Baffin Bay narwhal ing the IWC, NAMMCO, and the conducting the review workshop. stocks (Witting et al., 2019). JCNB “should be considered in the The steering committee for the work- Finally, this issue is dedicated to the near future” (IWC, 2011:287). At its shop was expanded to include the chair memory of Lloyd Lowry, who died in next meeting, the sub-committee was of the NBWG and NAMMCO co-chair late November 2018, soon after com- advised that an intersessional corre- of the JWG (Rod Hobbs), a represen- pleting editing of the report on west- spondence group had “moved ahead tative of the Arctic Council’s Con- ern Alaska beluga stocks (Lowry et al., … on planning a proposed global re- servation of Arctic Flora and Fauna 2019). Lloyd was a long-time beluga view of monodontids (involving, at a secretariat (Tom Barry), and scientists researcher and advocate for marine minimum, IWC, NAMMCO, and the from Russia (Olga Shpak) and Green- JCNB)” (IWC, 2012:279). land (Rikke Guldborg Hansen, JCNB mammal conservation in Alaska and In 2012 the sub-committee noted that co-chair of the JWG). The committee worldwide. He was instrumental in NAMMCO had indicated an interest in developed the terms of reference and establishing the Alaska Beluga Whale agenda for the workshop and identi- Committee and remained an active 2NAMMCO. 2001. Report of the 8th Meet- member of that committee for over 30 ing of the NAMMCO Scientific Committee. fied subject experts for each poten- In NAMMCO (Editor), Annual report 2000, p. tial monodontid stock as well as other years. See Gulland et al. (2019) for 123–296. N. Atl. Mar. Mammal Comm., Trom- further details of Lloyd’s life. sø, Norway (avail. at http://nammco.wpengine. experts who would be invited to par- com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Annual-Re- ticipate. Subject experts provided re- Roderick Hobbs, Jill Prewitt, Randall port-2000.pdf). ports on the status of the stocks and 3 Reeve , and Genieviéve Desportes NAMMCO. 2001. Report of the NAMMCO potential stocks prior to the workshop. s Management Committee. In NAMMCO (Edi- These reports were reviewed during the tor), Annual report 2000, p. 73–122. N. Atl. 5NAMMCO. 2018. Report of the NAMMCO Mar. Mammal Comm., Tromsø, Norway (avail. workshop and in some cases revised in Global Review of Monodontids. 13–16 March at http://nammco.wpengine.com/wp-content/up- response to comments received from 2017, Hillerød, Denmark (avail. at https:// loads/2016/08/Annual-Report-2000.pdf). nammco.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/report- 4Reports of the Joint Working Group (avail. at participants. A report of the workshop global-review-of-monodontids-nammco-2018_ https://nammco.no/topics/sc-wg-reports/). and the compiled stock reports were after-erratum-060518_with-appendices_2.pdf). iv Marine Fisheries Review Literature Cited stocks.