Research Document 2021/003
An update of impacts of harvesting on the abundance of Nunavik beluga
By Hammill, M.O., Mosnier, A. and Bordeleau, X.
Abstract
Harvests of the Eastern Hudson Bay (EHB) summer stock are limited by a management plan that ends in 2020. This document updates the status of the stock using new harvest (up until 2019) and genetics data (up until 2018). The analyses indicate that the overall proportions of EHB beluga in the Hudson Strait harvest were 11.7% in spring and 29.1% in fall; for Ungava Bay the proportion was 6% in spring. In northeastern Hudson Bay fall harvest the proportion was 44.5%. Limited sample size from the Ungava Bay fall and northeastern Hudson Bay spring harvests precluded the breakdown by season for these regions. The population model produced a median abundance estimate of 3,300 animals in 2019, a slight decrease from the previous estimate of 3,400 animals in 2014 (rounded to the nearest 100). The annual Sustainable Yield, which maintains a stable population (50% probability of decline), was 58 belugas for 5 years or 62 animals if evaluated over 10 years. The Potential Biological Removal is 14 animals per year assuming a recovery factor of 0.25.
Key words: beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, abundance, genetics, Nunavik, harvest
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