Stock Status Report E5-32(2002)
Cumberland Sound Beluga
Summary
- Recent data on movements obtained from tagged whales suggest that belugas reside in Cumberland Sound year-round.
- Growth measurements and genetic and contaminant profiles, collected since the 1980s, have confirmed that most belugas hunted in Cumberland Sound are distinct from those hunted near Iqaluit and Kimmirut. Local hunters report there are two or three different types of belugas hunted in Cumberland Sound.
- Between 1992 and 2001, hunters landed an average of 36.5 belugas each year. Struck-and-lost rates were not reported. During the same period, belugas were also taken occasionally during ice entrapments.
- Aerial surveys, conducted in 1999, produced a population estimate of 1547 belugas (95% confidence limits: 1187-1970). Local knowledge and comparison of the 1999 estimate to earlier estimates both suggest the population is increasing in size and recovering from historic depletion by commercial whaling.
- The DFO and the NWMB have authorized an increase in quota from 35 to 41 belugas, starting in 2002, as part of a community-based management system.
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