Science Advisory Report 2008/060
Advice relevant to identification of eastern canadian arctic bowhead (balaena mysticetus) critical habitat
Summary
Known Bowhead distributionpatterns suggest that influential habitat features may include the following:
- presence of suitable ice cover to reduce predation;
- proximity to shallow bathymetry or bottom slope for nursery functions;
- oceanographic features that concentrate prey (e.g., troughs, upwellings, eddies, funneling ocean currents, and water mass boundaries); and
- complex coastal areas that provide cover from predation, calm waters, and enhanced opportunities for intensive foraging.
The Eastern Arctic BowheadRecovery Team should consider the following habitat processes and current useareas (Figure 1) in its assessment of critical habitat:
- overwintering habitat in Hudson Strait and Davis Strait associated with avoidance of risk of ice entrapment and Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) predation (from about late December to late March);
- the northern Foxe Basin calving area associated with habitat used to nurture and shelter neonates and juveniles (from about late May to late July);
- the Gulf of Boothia-Prince Regent Inlet region associated with nursing female Bowheads accompanied by calves (from about late July to October); and
- the mid-eastern coastline waters of BaffinIsland where consistent late autumn feeding occurs (from about mid-July to late October).
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