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Subarctic Cetaceans in the Southern Chukchi Sea: Evidence of Recovery Or Response to a Changing Ecosystem

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Subarctic Cetaceans in the Southern Chukchi Sea: Evidence of Recovery Or Response to a Changing Ecosystem OceTHE OFFICIALa MAGAZINEnog OF THE OCEANOGRAPHYra SOCIETYphy CITATION Clarke, J., K. Stafford, S.E. Moore, B. Rone, L. Aerts, and J. Crance. 2013. Subarctic cetaceans in the southern Chukchi Sea: Evidence of recovery or response to a changing ecosystem. Oceanography 26(4):136–149, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.81. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.81 COPYRIGHT This article has been published inOceanography , Volume 26, Number 4, a quarterly journal of The Oceanography Society. Copyright 2013 by The Oceanography Society. All rights reserved. USAGE Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research. Republication, systematic reproduction, or collective redistribution of any portion of this article by photocopy machine, reposting, or other means is permitted only with the approval of The Oceanography Society. Send all correspondence to: [email protected] or The Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA. DOWNLOADED FROM HTTP://WWW.TOS.ORG/OCEANOGRAPHY REGULAR ISSUE FEATURE Subarctic Cetaceans in the Southern Chukchi Sea Evidence of Recovery or Response to a Changing Ecosystem BY JANET CLARKE, KATHLEEN STAFFORD, SUE E. MOORE, BRENDA RONE, LISANNE AERTS, AND JESSICA CRANCE 136 Oceanography | Vol. 26, No. 4 ABSTRACT. The southern Chukchi Sea is one of the most productive areas in the of especially high benthic productivity world ocean. Over the past decade, there have been dramatic changes in this region and biodiversity, the result of produc- in sea ice cover and in Bering Strait inflow, and it is now in the path of transpolar tion from ice algae and phytoplankton shipping and destinational ship traffic, including vessels supporting Arctic offshore not consumed in the pelagic zone that oil and gas development and tourism, all of which are anticipated to increase with provide the foundation for dense benthic decreasing seasonal sea ice cover. Little research on cetaceans has been conducted prey assemblages important to seasonally in the southern Chukchi Sea, and most information on the occurrence of subarctic abundant marine mammals (Grebmeier, species (humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae, fin whale Balaenoptera physalus, 2012). Especially high benthic infauna minke whale B. acutorostrata, and killer whale Orcinus orca) comes from the biomass on the western side of the ships’ logs of commercial whalers in the mid to late twentieth century and from southern Chukchi Sea is likely related to observers stationed along the Chukotka Peninsula. Information on cetacean seasonal the nutrient-rich AW. Invertebrate prey occurrence east of the International Date Line (IDL) in US waters is particularly important to marine mammals, such as scarce. To address this information gap, we compiled visual sightings and acoustic epibenthic euphausiids (krill) on which detections of subarctic cetaceans in the southern Chukchi Sea during summer and gray whales sometimes feed (Bluhm early autumn from 2009 to 2012. Humpback whales were common on both sides of et al., 2007), can also be advected into the IDL in August and September. Fin and minke whales were widely distributed the southern Chukchi Sea. Forage east of the IDL from July to September, and killer whales were seen sporadically but fishes, including Pacific herring (Clupea were the most widely dispersed of the four species. Comparisons of our results with pallasii), capelin (Mallotus villosus), and historical records indicate that the incidence of subarctic cetaceans may be increasing saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis), occur in in the southern Chukchi Sea. An increase in occurrence may simply be a post- comparatively high densities (Moore commercial whaling recovery of whale numbers and seasonal range by each species, et al., in press) associated with specific or it may reflect responses to ongoing climate change. Understanding current stock water masses in the southern Chukchi identity, spatial and temporal distribution, habitat preference, relative abundance, and Sea (Eisner et al., 2013). potential impacts of climate change on these species will require cetacean-focused Three cetacean species occur sea- research in this region of the Arctic. sonally in the southern Chukchi Sea: bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), INTRODUCTION minimum flow in February (Aagaard beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), and The southern Chukchi Sea is one of et al., 1985; Woodgate et al., 2005). Often gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). the most productive areas in the world there is little lateral mixing among the Beluga and bowhead whales are Arctic ocean (Grebmeier, 2012). Three water water masses so that fronts defined by endemic species that migrate through masses from the northern Bering Sea pronounced differences in sea surface the southern Chukchi Sea during enter through the narrow Bering Strait temperature (SST) can be identified on spring and autumn but seldom occur into the shallow (~ 50 m deep) sea satellite images (Woodgate et al. 2005), there in summer (Suydam et al., 2001; (Figure 1): the cold, saline, nutrient-rich illustrating the heterogeneity of the Quakenbush et al., 2010; Citta et al., Anadyr Water (AW) to the west; the physical system. Over the past decade, 2012). Conversely, gray whales are sea- seasonally warm, low-salinity Alaskan there has been a dramatic lengthening sonal Arctic species that may remain in Coastal Water (ACW) to the east; and of the sea ice-free season in the south- the southern Chukchi Sea in summer the central Bering Shelf Water (BSW) ern Chukchi Sea (e.g., Overland and to feed on benthic and epibenthic prey in between (Weingartner et al., 2005; Wang, 2013) and an approximately 50% (Moore et al., 2003; Bluhm et al., 2007). Woodgate et al., 2005). Although there increase in the inflow of warm fresh- All three species migrate south in late is high intra- and interannual variabil- water at Bering Strait (Woodgate et al., autumn to wintering areas in the Bering ity in water properties, current speed, 2012). Combined, these factors are likely Sea (bowhead whales and belugas) or and direction (Woodgate et al., 2012), altering the ecosystem of the southern in the North Pacific as far south as Baja there is a marked wind-driven sea- Chukchi Sea, including the availability of California, Mexico (gray whales). These sonal cycle with maximal northward prey for baleen whales. three species are well known to Chukchi flow through Bering Strait in July and The southern Chukchi Sea is a region Sea coastal community residents of Oceanography | December 2013 137 from the 1930s to the 1980s (Mel’nikov, 2000), as did observations of fin whales (Nemoto, 1959; Sleptsov, 1961), due to commercial whaling. Few surveys have been conducted for large whales in the southern Chukchi Sea, in part because other areas have been of higher priority for funding due to oil and gas industry interests. For example, in the northeastern Chukchi and western Beaufort seas, aerial surveys for marine mammals have been conducted since the late 1970s (e.g., Clarke et al., 1993; Moore et al., 1993), and several oceano- graphic cruises occurred during the 1970s and 1980s (e.g., Feder et al., 1994; Weingartner et al., 2005), but very few sightings of subarctic cetacean species were reported. Recently, research cruises and marine mammal aerial surveys conducted in the southern Chukchi Sea have documented several occurrences Figure 1. General current patterns and bathymetry in the Pacific Arctic sector, with the southern Chukchi Sea study area indicated. of subarctic cetacean species in summer and early autumn. In this paper, we pro- vide a synopsis of the distribution and Wales, Shishmaref, Kotzebue, Kivalina, 2002; Friday et al., 2012), and fin whales occurrence of subarctic cetacean species and Point Hope in Alaska, and Uelen, occur there year-round (Stafford et al., (humpback, fin, minke, and killer whales) Neshkan, and Vankarem, Chukotka in 2010). Although there is little his- in the southern Chukchi Sea from 2009 Russia, and are often harvested for sub- torical information on these species in to 2012 based on visual sightings (vessel sistence purposes (e.g., Borodin et al., US waters of the southern Chukchi Sea, and aerial surveys) and acoustic detec- 2002; Suydam et al., 2012). Soviet scientists and whalers in the tions (sonobuoys), and we compare Reports of other cetacean species late 1930s and early 1940s noted that these records with historical records and in the southern Chukchi Sea are less all four species were found off the known recent changes in the subarctic common, especially in US waters. Chukotka Peninsula between June and and Arctic ecosystems. Humpback, minke, and killer whales October (Nikulin, 1946). Hundreds of are common in the southeastern Bering humpback whales were observed in VESSEL AND AERIAL-BASED Sea in summer (Moore et al., 2000, this region, but observations declined DATA COLLECTION We define the southern Chukchi Sea Janet Clarke ([email protected]) is Senior Scientist, Leidos, Buckley, WA, USA. as the area ranging from Bering Strait Kathleen Stafford is Senior Oceanographer, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of (approximately 65.5°N) north to 69°N Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Sue E. Moore is Senior Scientist, National Oceanic and (Figure 1). This region is bordered by the Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Fisheries Office of Science & Technology, Seattle, Russian Chukotka Peninsula on the west WA, USA. Brenda Rone is Research Biologist, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, and the Alaskan Seward Peninsula and NOAA/National
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