Research Document - 2000/141
The harvest of beluga whales in Canada's Western Arctic: hunter-based monitoring of the size and composition of the catch.
By L. Harwood
Abstract
Hunter-based beluga monitoring programs, in place in the Mackenzie Delta since 1973, and in the Paulatuk, NT area since 1989, have collected data on the number of whales harvested and on the efficiency of the hunt. Since 1980, data on the standard length, fluke width, sex and age of the landed whales have also been collected. The number of whales landed each year averaged 131.8 beluga (SD 26.5, n=1337) between 1970-1979, 124.0 beluga (SD 23.3, n=1240) between 1980-1989, and 111.0 beluga (SD 19.0, n=1110) between 1990-1999. The human population increased during this same period. Estimated removal of beluga from the Beaufort Sea stock, including appropriate Alaskan harvests but not losses, is estimated at 186 beluga per year. The harvest consisted of 2.3 males to each female, with a median age of 23.5 yr for females (n=80) and 24 yr for males (n=286). More than 92% of an aged sample from the harvest (n=368) consisted of whales aged 10 yr (20 GLG) and older. The rate of removal is small in relation to the expected maximum net productivity rate. Also, the continued availability of large and old individuals after centuries of harvesting, and the apparent lack of change in the size and age structure of the catch in recent years, all support the conclusion that the present level of harvest is sustainable and robust to most perturbations.
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