Annexes – Stock Status Reviews Global Review Of
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Stock Status Reviews Annex 1-30 STOCK STATUS REVIEWS Contents Annex 1: Western Okhotsk, or Sakhalin-Shantar, beluga population (Russia) ...................................... 2 SUPPLEMENT to the Western Okhotsk (Sakhalin-Shantar) population assessment: Sakhalin-Amur, Ulbansky, Tugursky and Udskaya summer stocks ..................................................................... 13 Annex 2: Shelikhov Bay (North-Eastern Okhotsk Sea) Beluga Stock ................................................. 15 Annex 3: Anadyr Gulf Beluga Whale Stock ......................................................................................... 21 Annex 4: Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Beluga Whale pool ...................................................................... 28 Annex 5: Cook Inlet Stock of Beluga Whales ...................................................................................... 39 Annex 6: Eastern Bering Sea Beluga Whale Stock .............................................................................. 48 Annex 7: Bristol Bay Beluga Whale Stock ........................................................................................... 56 Annex 8: Eastern Chukchi Sea Beluga Whale Stock ............................................................................ 66 Annex 9: Eastern Beaufort Sea Beluga Stock ....................................................................................... 76 Annex 10: Eastern High Arctic – Baffin Bay and West Greenland Beluga Whale Stock .................... 90 Annex 11: Western Hudson Bay Beluga Stock .................................................................................. 102 Annex 12: James Bay Beluga Stock ................................................................................................... 113 Annex 13: Eastern Hudson Bay Beluga Stock .................................................................................... 120 Annex 14: Ungava Bay Beluga Stock ................................................................................................. 139 Annex 15: Cumberland Sound Beluga Stock ..................................................................................... 143 Annex 16: St. Lawrence Estuary Beluga Stock .................................................................................. 151 Annex 17: Svalbard Beluga Stock ...................................................................................................... 160 Annex 18: White Sea (Russia) Beluga Stock ...................................................................................... 163 Annex 19: Somerset Island Narwhal Stock ........................................................................................ 174 Annex 20: Jones Sound Narwhal Stock .............................................................................................. 188 Annex 21: Smith Sound Narwhal Stock ............................................................................................. 199 Annex 22: Admiralty Inlet Narwhal Stock ......................................................................................... 205 Annex 23: Eclipse Sound Narwhal Stock Eclipse Sound Stock ......................................................... 218 Annex 24: Inglefield Bredning Narwhal Stock ................................................................................... 231 Annex 25: Melville Bay Narwhal Stock ............................................................................................. 241 Annex 26: Eastern Baffin Island Narwhal Stock ................................................................................ 250 Annex 27: Northern Hudson Bay Narwhal Stock ............................................................................... 261 Annex 28: East Greenland Narwhal Stock ......................................................................................... 269 Annex 29: Northeast Greenland Narwhal Stock ................................................................................. 274 Annex 30: Svalbard Narwhal Stock .................................................................................................... 275 1 ANNEX 1 Western Okhotsk Beluga Stocks: Sakhalin-Amur, Ulbansky, Tugursky and Udskaya Annex 1: Western Okhotsk, or Sakhalin-Shantar, beluga population (Russia): Sakhalin-Amur, Ulbansky, Tugursky and Udskaya summer stocks Olga V. Shpak, Ilya G. Meschersky A.N. Severtsov institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Note: Below is provided the assessment of a biological population of the beluga, which in summer occupies the bays of the Western Okhotsk Sea. At the GROM meeting, it was agreed that the reoccurring “summer aggregations” should be considered separate “stocks” when geographic or genetic isolation was demonstrated and, in future, should be assessed and managed as independent units. The Western-Okhotsk beluga population assessment initially prepared for the GROM meeting (below) is supplemented with the summaries of the summer stocks as designated by the GROM expert joint agreement: 1) Sakhalin-Amur (presumably, includes Nikolaya bay); 2) Ulbansky; 3) Tugursky (a putative summer stock, genetic isolation of which from Udskaya stock is not confirmed); 4) Udskaya. 1. Distribution and stock identity The Western-Okhotsk beluga population, previously thought to consist of two – Sakhalin-Amur and Shantar – stocks (IWC, 2000), has been extensively studied starting 2007. Based on aerial surveys and coastal observations (Solovyev et al. 2015), the population in summer is divided onto several nursery aggregations, which concentrate in shallow waters of Sakhalin-Amur and Shantar regions (Figure 1: 1 and 2, respectively). The population identity was confirmed by genetic studies (see below), according to which all belugas summering in the western Okhotsk Sea share a single nuclear gene pool and thus represent a single population. Within this population, belugas summering in different areas may be preliminary subdivided into 3 demographic units: 1) Sakhalin-Amur and Nikolaya bays, 2) Ulbansky Bay, and 3) Tugursky-Udskaya Bays (Yazykova et al. 2012, Meschersky et al. 2013). The status of belugas observed in Nikolaya and Tugursky bays remains to be confirmed: increasing genetic sample size in both areas and satellite tracking are required. Summer distribution was studied in 2007-2013 (Figure 1). In Sakhalinsky Bay, same individuals were re-sighted in different years and within seasons (Shpak et al., 2014). In other Shantar bays we also re- sighted belugas both, intra- and inter- seasonally (our data, unpubl.). Together with results of genetic analysis, our observations suggest that in summer belugas form at least semi-residential aggregations in different bays of the western Okhotsk Sea, and at least some individuals return to the same bays summer after summer. Exclusion was when in the middle of summer in Nikolaya Bay we found two belugas previously tagged in Sakhalinsky Bay (Shpak et al., 2014). It is known that starting September belugas may move from Sakhalinskiy Bay westward – to Nikolaya and Ulbansky Bays (Shpak et al. 2010, 2012), and it is possible that some individuals do so in summer. Genetic analysis of a limited sample from Nikolaya Bay (n=8) collected in summer (July) has not revealed differences between Sakhalin-Amur and Nikolaya Bay belugas (Meschersky et al. 2013). If belugas observed in Nikolaya Bay in summer form a separate aggregation remains to be discovered. Single “migrants” or small groups, some – with immature individuals, were sometimes observed outside the places of major concentrations – between the bays or near the Shantar islands. Russian-Japanese ship-based surveys conducted in July-August 2009-2010 mostly in pelagic waters of the Okhotsk Sea resulted in no sightings of beluga whales (Istomin et al. 2013), further confirming the hypothesis that in summer beluga distribution is limited to coastal waters and bays. 2 ANNEX 1 Western Okhotsk Beluga Stocks: Sakhalin-Amur, Ulbansky, Tugursky and Udskaya 1. 2. Figure 1. Summer sightings of belugas in Sakhalin-Amur (1) and Shantar (2) regions, visual observations, boat and aerial surveys, 2007-2013 (from Solovyev et al., 2015). In winter, according to results of satellite tracking (Shpak et al. 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), belugas move offshore to N and NE, but remain in the Sea of Okhotsk throughout the year (Figure 2). Beluga whales – singletons or small groups (incl. mom-calf pair) – can be found in Sea of Japan (Sato and Ichimura 2011, Melnikov and Seredkin 2014, our interview data), but such cases are rare and should be considered as sightings outside the normal range. 3 ANNEX 1 Western Okhotsk Beluga Stocks: Sakhalin-Amur, Ulbansky, Tugursky and Udskaya 1. 2. Figure 2. Satellite tracking of belugas from Sakhalin-Amur summer aggregation, 2009 (“Б09” whales) and 2010 (“Б10” whales). 1. Tracks of belugas, which migrated to “eastern” winter grounds. 2. Tracks of belugas, which migrated to “western” winter grounds (Shpak et al. 2012). Genetic studies Earlier published data (Meschersky et al., 2012 and Yazykova et al., 2012: analysis of ca. 130 samples from Sakhalinsky Bay and about 180 individuals biopsied in 4 bays of Shantar region; Meschersky et al., 2013: ca.100 individuals from Sakhalinsky Bay and about 40 individuals from Udskaya Bay of Shantar region) allowed to state a high level of genetic unity of these belugas and consider them as a single biological population (reproductive unit). At the same time, significant difference