COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the

1,12

MB

bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus in Canada

59

stron

4831

ID

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada

2005

rok

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIES INFORMATION. 4

Name and classification. 4

Description. 4

DISTRIBUTION. 5

Global range 5

Canadian range . 7

HABITAT. 12

Habitat requirements . 12

Trends . 13

Protection/ownership . 13

BIOLOGY 14

General 14

Reproduction . 14

Survival 15

Physiology . 16

Movements/dispersal. 16

Nutrition and interspecific interactions . 19

Behaviour/adaptability . 20

POPULATION SIZES AND TRENDS 20

Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population 21

Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin population. 21

Davis Strait-Baffin Bay population . 22

LIMITING FACTORS AND THREATS 23

Killer Whales 24

Illegal hunting 24

Strandings . 25

Toxins (pollution contaminants) . 25

Man-made noise 26

Climate change 26

Ship collisions 27

Ice-entrapment 27

Diseases and parasites . 28

Entanglement 28

SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SPECIES 28

EXISTING PROTECTION OR OTHER STATUS DESIGNATIONS 30

SUMMARY OF STATUS REPORT. 31

TECHNICAL SUMMARY Hudson Bay-Foxe Basin population 33

TECHNICAL SUMMARY Davis Strait-Baffin Bay population 35

TECHNICAL SUMMARY Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population . 37

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND AUTHORITIES CONTACTED. 39

INFORMATION SOURCES 39

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF REPORT WRITER . 50