Commercial and subsistence harvests of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in eastern Canada and West Greenland

Abstract

Commercial harvesting of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) from the eastern Canada-West Greenland population started with Basque whalers in the Strait of Belle Isle ca 1530 AD. Subsistence harvests have an even longer history, and the first culture to be active bowhead whalers was the Thule, which replaced the Dorset culture in the central and eastern Arctic ca 1200 AD. Previous harvest compilations have been incomplete, and back-calculated population models have thus been negatively biased. In recent decades this population has shown significant recovery and is the subject of Inuit subsistence harvests in both Canada and West Greenland. A revised historic abundance estimate is needed to examine the level of recovery; this requires inter alia a revised and updated catch series. Available information from multiple anthropological, archaeological, historic and recent sources, and estimate commercial and subsistence harvests in eastern Canada and West Greenland is summarised. From 1530–1915, commercial whalers took an estimated 55,916–67,537 (median 61,537) bowhead whales (varying assumptions on the intensity of the Basque harvest), which is known to be incomplete. Inuit harvests before commercial whaling began (1200–1529 AD) were estimated at 11,435 whales, based on the abundance of whale bone at winter houses excavated by archaeologists. After 1500 AD, Inuit whaling declined, and the total estimated harvest between 1530 AD and the end of commercial whaling was 8,406 whales. Inuit whaling declined again after commercial whalers overharvested the population and only 65 whales are known to have been harvested (or struck and lost) from 1918–2009. The Inuit harvest statistics are based on scattered data and a number of assumptions, with some evidence that at least parts of the series are underestimated. Even if harvests were higher, they would have probably not been large enough to cause population declines. The long tradition of Inuit bowhead whaling was negatively impacted by commercial harvests. Combining all harvests from 1530–2009 AD results in a total estimated kill of some 70,000 whales (not including struck and lost whales and known gaps for some nations and eras), with most (88%) taken by commercial whalers. Data quality varies considerably by nation and era, and was assigned to a 3-point scale for reliability, with over half the harvest considered to be the least reliable. This is the most comprehensive summary and estimate of bowhead harvests for this region, but is still known to be incomplete and is based on a number of assumptions and disparate data sources.

Categorisation of the length of bowhead whales from British Arctic whaling records

“…Results from the Davis Strait were different with records revealing a dramatic reduction in the catch of sexually mature whales going from 85% to 50% once the whalers hunted in regions beyond Disko Bay. This agrees with Higdon (2010), and references within) who states that bowhead whales exhibit considerable age-and sex-based segregation in their spatio-temporal distribution.…”

“…Based upon Table 4 we summarise it as follows, before 1817 about 85% of the whales taken could be considered sexually mature (>13.0 m), where after the expansion, which saw the whalers sail clockwise around Baffin Bay, we see a significant reduction to 50%. Higdon (2010) states that that the Disko Bay region is dominated by larger whales and Heide-Jørgensen et al ( 2010) notes that it is predominately mature females without calves that utilize Disko Bay. As the whalers concentrated their efforts in the region surrounding Disko Bay up until the northward expansion, it makes sense that larger whales were caught there.…”

Four centuries of commercial whaling eroded 11,000 years of population stability in bowhead whales

“…In the Arctic and subarctic, subsistence harvesting of cetaceans started with the arrival of the Thule culture ∼1,000 years ago 4 , and remains significant to communities across the Arctic. In particular, the bowhead whale ( Balaena mysticetus ) – the only baleen whale found in the Arctic year round – was harvested relatively heavily by the Thule 5 . However, this harvest may have had little impact because non-breeding whales (mainly yearlings) were predominantly targeted 6 .…”

Bridging Indigenous andWesternsciences: Decision points guiding aquatic research and monitoring inInuit Nunangat

“…For a more complete understanding Fox (2004), Meier et al (2006), Westdal et al (2010), Higdon and Ferguson (2011) To compare sciences Fox (2004), Kowalchuk (2010) To support the other science Henri et al ( 2018 Finley (2001), Usher (2000), Higdon (2010), Paulic et al (2014 a This column totals 26 rather than 25 case studies because one case study (Fox, 2004) used Indigenous and Western sciences for two purposes: to form a more complete understanding, and to compare sciences (Sequence 4).…”