The Cumberland Sound belugas are a distinct population of belugas residing in the Cumberland Sound region of the Labrador Sea off the coast of Nunavut, Canada [1] Individuals of this population reside in the sound year-round, congregating in its extreme north exclusively at Clearwater Fjord during the summer for calving. [2] The Cumberland Sound beluga population is considered fairly isolated and genetically distinct from other beluga populations, with a notable number of haplotypes and microsatellite loci not found elsewhere. [1]
Adult females and males in the population reach mean lengths of 362 and 428 cm (11.88 and 14.04 ft) respectively and weigh from 800 to 1000 kg (1750 - 2200 Ibs). The peak breeding season appears to occur in May with calves being born in late July or early August after a gestation period of about 14.5 months. Life expectancy is about 16 years, but Belugas in their late 20s have been recorded; the oldest female and male sampled from the catch in Cumberland Sound to date are 26 and 24 years respectively. Research suggests a low reproductive rate, typical of the K-selected species. [3] [4]
Belugas occupy mostly the western side of the Cumberland Sound in spring and early autumn. In summer, they are found mainly in Clearwater Fiord and adjacent bays where they are reported to feed on a large diversity of fish and invertebrate species including squid, tube worms, caplin, Greenland cod and Atlantic cod. In late autumn and early winter, belugas move to the centre of the Sound, diving to depths of 300 m or more to feed on deep-water species such as Greenland halibut. Local hunters also report that belugas at the floe-edge in spring prey mainly on Arctic cod and turbot under the ice. In winter, belugas move to the eastern side of the Sound near the mouth, following open water. [1] [2]
Large commercial hunting by the Hudson's Bay Company during the commercial whaling period between 1868 and 1940 reduced the original population of some 5,000 whales [5] to less than 1,000 individuals in the 1970s. [6] This major population decline prompted the government to regulate hunting in the 1980s, with prohibition of commercial beluga harvests. [1]
The Inuit of the southeast Baffin region have long depended on the hunt of belugas in Cumberland Sound for their survival and culture. Local hunters have extensive traditional ecological knowledge of belugas and hunt them mostly in summer, avoiding taking calves and females with calves. [7] As part of 1980s hunting regulations, quotas were set for Inuit harvests: the annual quota for belugas hunted in Cumberland Sound was 35 whales between 1992 and 2001, and was increased to 41 whales in 2002. Total landings between 1992 and 2001 fluctuated between 15 and 50, averaging 36 to 37 belugas per year. [1]
In 1990, the southeast Baffin - Cumberland Sound beluga population was designated as Endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) based on the historical decline of the population due to overhunting. Aerial surveys in 1999 indicated an estimated Cumberland Sound beluga population of 1,547, indicating an increase from the historical low and the possibility that the population is stable and gradually recovering. [8]
In 2004, the Cumberland Sound population was split off as distinct from the Baffin Island population and assessed as Threatened by COSEWIC, pending listing under the Species at Risk Act. [4] Research and monitoring is under way into the population dynamics and ecology of the population to inform conservation and recovery strategies. While current harvest quotas appear sustainable, there are concerns about the impact of noise from increased boat traffic as well as competition over Greenland halibut with human fisheries. [1] [7]
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had risen to be the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The industry spread throughout the world, and became increasingly profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population, and became the targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969, and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, which usually excludes dolphins and porpoises. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest non-cetacean living relatives are the hippopotamuses, from which they and other cetaceans diverged about 54 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have had their last common ancestor around 34 million years ago. Whales consist of eight extant families: Balaenopteridae, Balaenidae, Cetotheriidae, Eschrichtiidae, Monodontidae, Physeteridae, Kogiidae, and Ziphiidae.
The narwhal, also known as a narwhale, is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada and Russia. It is one of two living species of whale in the family Monodontidae, along with the beluga whale. The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758.
Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi)—slightly larger than Spain, its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadian census, and is located at 68°N70°W. It also contains the city of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.
The beluga whale is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean to regularly occur with this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin.
Pond Inlet is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always has been Mittimatalik." The Scottish explorer Sir John Ross had named an arm of the sea that separates Bylot Island from Baffin Island as Pond's Bay, and the hamlet now shares that name. On 29 August 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its trading post near the Inuit camp and named it Pond Inlet, marking the expansion of its trading empire into the High Arctic.
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispecific" or "monospecific" is sometimes preferred. In botanical nomenclature, a monotypic genus is a genus in the special case where a genus and a single species are simultaneously described. In contrast an oligotypic taxon contains more than one but only a very few subordinate taxa.
Baffin Bay, located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a sea of North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas. However, a polynya of about 80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi), known as the North Water, opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound. Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region.
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis (1550–1605), who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage. By the 1650s it was used for whale hunting.
Indigenous whaling is the hunting of whales by indigenous peoples recognised by either IWC or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country. It is permitted under international regulation, but in some countries remains a contentious issue. It is usually considered part of the subsistence economy. In some places whaling has been superseded by whale watching instead. This article deals with communities that continue to hunt; details about communities that have ended the practice may be found at History of whaling.
Cumberland Sound is an Arctic waterway in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a western arm of the Labrador Sea located between Baffin Island's Hall Peninsula and the Cumberland Peninsula. It is approximately 250 km (160 mi) long and 80 km (50 mi) wide. Other names are Cumberland Straits,Hogarth Sound, and Northumberland Inlet. Old Norse is ᚠᛁᛋᚦᚱᛁ ᚢᛒᚢᚴᚦᛁᛦ, fisþri ubukþiR.
Muktuk is a traditional food of the peoples of the Arctic, consisting of whale skin and blubber. It is most often made from the bowhead whale, although the beluga and the narwhal are also used. It is usually consumed raw, but can also be eaten frozen, cooked, or pickled.
The Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot belongs to the family Pleuronectidae, and is the only species of the genus Reinhardtius. It is a predatory fish that mostly ranges at depths between 500 and 1,000 m (1,600–3,300 ft), and is found in the cold northern Atlantic, northern Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. It has a variety of other English vernacular names, including black halibut, blue halibut, lesser halibut, and Newfoundland turbot; while both Newfoundland turbot and Greenland turbot are in common use in North America, these names are typically not used in Europe, where they can cause easy confusion with the true turbot.
The bowhead whale is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and the only living representative of the genus Balaena. They are the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and are named after their characteristic massive triangular skull, which they use to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species are the Greenland right whale or Arctic whale. American whalemen called them the steeple-top, polar whale, or Russia or Russian whale.
The fishing industry in Greenland is very important to the national economy of Greenland and local food supply. It is the source of many people's livelihoods all across the country, employing some 6,500 out of a national population of 56,452 people (2010).
NOC was a beluga whale who made human-like vocalizations. He was captured by Inuit hunters for the United States Navy in 1977 and lived in captivity until his death in 1999. In 1984, researchers from the National Marine Mammal Foundation discovered his unusual ability to mimic the rhythm and tone of human speech. Belugas' human-like voices had been described in the past, but NOC's voice was the first to have been recorded.
The North Water Polynya or Pikialasorsuaq to Inuit in Greenland and Sarvarjuaq to Inuit in Canada (NOW) is a polynya that lies between Greenland and Canada in northern Baffin Bay. The world's largest Arctic polynya at about 85,000 km2 (33,000 sq mi), it creates a warm microclimate that provides a refuge for narwhal, beluga, walrus, and bowhead whales to feed and rest. While thin ice forms in some areas, the polynya is kept open by wind, tides and an ice bridge on its northern edge. Named the "North Water" by 19th century whalers who relied on it for spring passage, this polynya is one of the most biologically productive marine areas in the Arctic Ocean.
Whaling in Canada encompasses both aboriginal and commercial whaling, and has existed on all three Canadian oceans, Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast have whaling traditions dating back millennia, and the hunting of cetaceans continues by Inuit. By the late 20th century, watching whales was a more profitable enterprise than hunting them.
