\,

"This paper not to ~farine Mammal COIT'u'Ili t tee prior rcfercnce to C. M. 1969/N: 4

Occurrence of the bm'llwad 'or,'Grecn1and'right \'1hale BaZacma 'nrJsticetus 'Linnacus 'in' Canadian arcHe \'laters.

A. W. Mansfield

Fisheries Research Board of , Arctic Biological Station,

P.O. Box 400, Ste. Anno de Bellevue 800, Que.

Introduction

It is now 250 years since a fishery for arctic ri~lt whales began in the waters of eastern Canada and western Greenland. Like so many Hhaling ventures, it reaclled a peak of success and then declined quick1y as the stock of whales became exhausted. From the beginning of the 20th Century until quite recently the right whale has beena rare maJl1'Ilal and fm'l biologists have been fortunate enough to see one. It is not surprising, therefore, ,that our knm.,rledge of the habits of this species are still based largely on the accurate observations recorded by the whaling captain Wi11iam Seoresby in his history and description of the whale fishery (1820), and by C. ~f. Scmnmon in his account of the Amcrican whale fishery in the, North Pacific (1874) .

The species \'las knmm by a variety of names to British and American \..ha1ers: arctic right \'lha1e, Greenland right whale, Greenland whale, great polar \'lhale and bm..head. The latter name, which \'las used by American whalers in the Bering Sea and the , is the most appropriate of a11 the vernacular names and refers to the ,..haIe' 5 most distinctive feature, the strongly arched upper jaws (Fig. 1).

In the days of the sailing ship, right ''Ihaies were most sought after because of their slm.,r speed and relative ease of capture. They \.. ere highly prized for their great yield of blubber, which had the advantage of kecping them afloat \..hen ki11ed, and the large amount of baleen \'lhich \'laS very valuable at certain periods of the whale fisheries. The bowhead fishery \.,rris first attempted in Davis Strait and the ,.,raters to the north by the Dutch in 1719 (Fraser, 1949). By the middle of the 19th Century ,..haling had become unimportant in this area • and it ceased altogether in 1913 when the last whaling ship left Dundee in Scotland (Lubbock, 1955). The Bering Strait fishery began before the middle of the 19th Century and was an American enterprise (Seammon, 1874) . Bowheads \'lere hunted nearly to extinction and this fishery \'laS also abandoned at the beginning of the 20th Century. Nm'l, under the rules of the International Whaling Commission, bowheads are comp1ete1y protected from any commercial exploitation, though Eskimos are a11m'led to obtain them for food. About 10 are taken annua11y at Point Hope and Point Barrow in Alaska by Eskimos hunting them from skin boats 01' wrriaks, but only two have been taken in the Canadian arcHc in recent years.

Distribution

During the last 15 years numerous observations of bowheads have become available to the Fisheries Research Board, mostly through the Annual Game Reports submitted by arctic detachments of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to their headquarters in OttU\'la. Other observations have been received from iee observers and other personnel aboard government ships and aircraft, and from pilots of light aircraft. Dctailcd citations will bc publishcd in another paper, and only a general sUImnary of the observations is givcn here.'

Ras tern- Canadi::m Arctic

The observations fram eastern arctic ''laters shm'l a great similarity in distribution to former knmm ,..haling grounds (Fig. 2). TI1ese include: Cumber1and Sound (1), the eastern coast of ,

-2-

from Cape Dyer (2) to Cape Eglinton (3); (4); (5); (6); Roes-Welcome Sound -(7); and southcrn (8) (Lubbock. 1955). 11lOUgh littlc is knmm of the t1.ovel:lcnts of the bmvhead in these arens. i ts former abundance at the edge of the fast ice in 'vestern in the spring suggests that it may be a year-round resident. maHng only local movements dictated by the distribution of food and ice cover. 1t has not been possible to estimate total numbers. hut herds of from 5 to 20 ,,,holes ha\'e bcen seen on scveral occasions. and up to 50 whales havc been counted at one locality in a single season.

Western Canaelian Arctie

Bmvheads in the ''lestern arctie form part of a population 'vhich migrates through Bering Strait in the early spring. In April and 1-!ay they pass Point Hope in Alaska where they are hunteel by Eskimos at the cdge of the fast ice. In 1960. 1961 anel 1962 D. C. Foote (1964) observeel at least 127. 49 and 177 ,,,haIes respeetive1y pass by Point Hope. From here the)' continue on past Point Barrm'l and make their \my into Amunelsen Gulf (9) and as far cast as Coronation Gu1f (10) where they occupy all the fermer knmm \'ihaling grounds (Tmmsend. 1935). At • several localities in the ''iCstern Canaelian arctie herds of 20 to 30 bmvheads have been seen. with as man)' as 100 indivieluals sighted in one season. 1110 \'1ho1e population apparent1y returns to the Bering Sea in the fall and spends the \'/inter amongst thc floating pack ice about the Aleutian and Kurile Islands. -

Summary

The observations suggest that the bowhead population of Canada is recovering 'vell after intensive exploitation. though i t probably amounts to on1y a small perccntagc of the population present before eo:nmercial whale fisheries began.

Referenees

Eschricht. D. F.• anel J. Reinharelt. 1866. On the Greenland right whale (BaZaena mystic:ettlS, Linn.), pp. 1-150 In (W. H. F10\ver,' eel.) Recent memoirs on the Cetaeea. Ray Society, London.

• Foote, D. C. 1964. Observations of the bowhead wha1e at Point lIope, A1aska. }.IS, 77 pp.

Fraser, F. C. 1949. l\11a1es and elolphins, pp. 201-376 In (J. R. Norman and F. C. Fraser) Field book of giant fishes, uhalcs and dolphins. G. P. Putnam's San, Nm'l York.

Lubbock, B. 1955. Thc arctic whalers. Brmm, Son and Ferguson. Ltel., Glasgm'l, 480 pp.

Seammon, C. M. 1874. Thc marine mammals of the north-""estcrn eoast of North America, described and illustrated. together ,'lith an account of the Amcrican whale-fishery. John H. Carmany and Co., San Francisco (reprintcd in 1968 by Dover Publications, Ne\'l York).

Scoresby, W. 1820. An aceount of the arctie regions, ,vith a history and dcscription of the northern \I'hale fishcry, 2 vo1s. A. Constable and Co., Edinburgh.

Tmmscnd, C. H. 1935. 11Ie elistribution of certain \I'hales as shown by logbook records of American ""haIe ships. Zoologica, Naw York. 29(1): 1-50. Figure 1. Skeleton und body outline of the bowhead, after Eschricht and Reinhardt (1966) and Scammon (1874).

Figure 2. Distribution of the bOivhead in Canadian arctic 'vaters. Shaded ureas-­ former known whaling grounds (ufter Lubbock, 1955; TOimsend, 1935). Large black dots--more than 10 ",haIes seen together, or more than 10 sightings in one season. Small b1ack dots--1ess than 10\\ha1es seen tagether, or less thnn 10 sightings in one senson. Numbers refer to thc following p1ace narnes mentioned in the text: (1) ; (2) Cape Dyer; (3) Cape Eglinton; (4) Pond Inlet; (5) Lancaster Sound; (6) Prince Regent Inlet; (7) ; (8) South::m.pton Island; (9) Anundsen Gulf; (10) Coronation Gu1f.