The Davis Strait - DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi

Figure 4.8.7. Migration routes for
bowhead whales in the Davis
Strait and Baffin Bay. In January-
February the whales migrate
through the assessment area on
their way to feeding/mating
grounds just north of the assessment
area (hatched area).
Greenland to feed on the high densities of Arctic copepods in Disko Bay
(Fig. 4.8.7) (Heide-Jørgensen et al. 2006, Laidre et al. 2007, Heide-Jørgensen
et al. 2010b). The whales migrating to West Greenland constitute 78% females
and besides for feeding the whales may use the area as a mating
ground (Heide-Jørgensen et al. 2010b). An unknown number of individuals
pass through the assessment area during their migration between Canada
and West Greenland. This is further supported by passive acoustic monitoring
in Davis Strait with recordings of bowhead whale song from January to
June and a clear peak in March-May (Simon 2010).
Extensive commercial whaling of bowhead whales reduced the stock to a
level where whaling was no longer profitable at the end of the 19 th century
(Ross 1993 ) and sightings were rare in West Greenland. However, the stock
is now recovering and the whales have returned to the Disko Bay feeding/mating
area. The most recent estimate of bowhead whales in Disko Bay
is 1229 (95% CI 495-2939) bowhead whales (Heide-Jørgensen et al. 2007a)
and the bowhead whale is now listed as least concern on the IUCN Red Llist
(2008) and as nearly threatened on the Greenlandic Red List (Boertmann 2007).
66°N
64°N
62°N
60°W
60°W
0 150 300 Km
60°N
55°W
55°W
50°W
50°W
68°N
66°N
64°N
62°N
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