Virtual Whale Watch #4: The spring migration north

Join our virtual whale watch as we follow bowhead whales as they migrate through Arctic waters and we explore what their movements are telling us. In this fourth watch, we follow the whales on their spring migration. Read on to learn why it is an important part of the year, especially for mother and calf bowheads.

Once the sea ice starts to melt in late March, bowheads start thinking about their journey back to their summer habitat. For the bowhead whales that we have been watching, it means returning to the Gulf of Boothia in Nunavut, Canada through Foxe Basin.

While this might sound like moving 1200km from A to B, bowhead whale migration is about much more than just swimming. Like many other animals, bowhead whales carry out different life events along their migratory routes. Different habitats support different needs throughout an animal’s life history–be it feeding, mating, seeking protection, or other behaviours that help with survival.

For one, research suggests that bowhead whales time their spring migrations northward when the ice is melting. At this time, there tend to be phytoplankton blooms, which result in more copepods available–small crustaceans which bowheads eat. Though bowheads can find the most food in their wintering habitats, more food from the spring phytoplankton blooms means it is easier to make the long journey north to the Gulf of Boothia.

There is also evidence to suggest that safety might play a role. As sea ice retreats, it becomes safer for bowheads to start traveling, especially with their young. Once the ice melts in their winter habitat of Hudson Strait, they follow the sea ice north through Foxe Basin, where there is still ice for protection for bowheads and their young. During the spring, there are also less waves, making it easier for mothers and their young to travel.

There might be other reasons as well, but those are scientific discoveries waiting to happen.

From the data: Science and lived experience

To study bowhead whales, scientists tend to spend their summers out in the field when much of the sea ice has retreated, and it is easier to find whales. That means we know most about bowhead whale movements in summer and autumn. Come winter, some of the GPS tracking devices fitted to whales tend to stop transmitting location information, likely because the batteries have run out. This means we have substantial gaps in our knowledge about spring migrations of bowheads and other Arctic whales.

The importance of bowhead whales for Inuit communities

For Inuit, bowhead whales are a central part of their culture, and also their livelihoods.

“Hunting Bowhead has been and still is important to Inuit. In the past its bones were used for sod houses, tools, and for boats such as the umiak. Even today, the harvest provides nutrient rich food for Inuit. Given the size of the whale, one hunt can provide food for an entire community,” says Qumuatuk.

Having healthy populations of bowhead whales is important for food and other resources, which are more difficult to come by in the Arctic than in the south. Bowhead whales are also important for maintaining ocean ecosystems in balance, including sequestering more carbon in their body than an individual tree.

The more we can understand about bowhead whale migration patterns, the better equipped we are to protect these Arctic blue corridors from threats like shipping, resource extraction and other industrial development. Our conservation efforts are focused on giving whales the best chance to adapt to climate change and protecting bowhead whale populations as an integral part of Arctic nature and culture.

VIRTUAL WHALE WATCH

Over the coming months, we will follow several bowhead whales, as well as other types of whales, on their Arctic journey.

We are supporting the work of Dr. Steve Ferguson, a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of Manitoba, and colleagues to identify important habitats for whales and the migratory corridors in the Arctic and beyond.

This research will assist WWF’s Blue Corridors conservation approach, which aims to better understand whales’ migration patterns and to inform global and regional management plans that protect them. Through understanding Arctic Blue Corridors, WWF will work to mitigate threats and provide solutions to governments and industry that will safeguard whales on their journeys.

It is widely recognised that protecting and connecting areas is key to strengthening biodiversity resilience to change, giving species and ecosystems space to adapt. At the same time, human activities and industrialisation are expanding across the Arctic. This has put biodiversity under pressure and has occupied and fragmented an increasing number of areas across the Arctic.

WWF and partners are working towards conservation goals for Arctic priority species, like bowhead whales. This includes identifying, protecting, and connecting their important current and future habitats. Following bowhead and other whales in the Arctic will help fill some current information gaps about these Arctic animals and their key habitats.

Special thanks to Foxe Basin bowhead field research team in Igloolik that deployed satellite tags onto the whales, collected photographs both from the air and boat and sampled the whales using biopsy techniques along the floe edge in June-July 2022: Cory Matthews, Justine Hudson, Tommy Pontbriand, Todd King Ammaaq, Levi Qaunaq, Travis Qaunaq, and Morgan Martin.

This project is managed by Brent Young and Steven Ferguson of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg. A big thank you to the Igloolik Hunters and Trappers Association, in particular the manager Jacob Maliki, for their support and assistance. Thank you as well to our Inuit colleagues based in Igloolik and Sanirayak, and to everyone who helped with truck rentals and moving gear. Financial support was provided by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Follow along to learn more!