Status of White Whales, Delphinapterus leucas, in Ungava Bay and eastern Hudson Bay

This paper evaluates the status of White Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in two areas bordering northern Qubec: Ungava Bay and eastern Hudson Bay. In both areas, White Whales have been hunted by Natives for subsistence. Also, intensive commercial net fisheries exploited White Whales in eastern Hudson Bay (mainly the Little Whale and Great Whale River estuaries) during the 1850s and 1860s and in southern Ungava Bay from the late 1860s to the turn of the century. The whales occupying southern Ungava Bay and eastern Hudson Bay in summer are taken to be separate management stocks. The Ungava Bay stock was centered historically in estuaries from Tasiujaq in the west to Kangirsualujjuaq in the east; the eastern Hudson Bay (Eastmain) stock, from Akulivik in the north to Great Whale River in the south. Whales from both of these stocks probably overwinter in Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay and perhaps near the mouth of Hudson Strait. Among many uncertainties regarding stock definitions and boundaries, it is unclear whether all, some or none of the whales found in summer in James Bay belong to the Eastmain stock. Recent aerial surveys have shown that the number of whales summering in southern Ungava Bay is only a few tens of individuals, compared with at least 800-1000 in the 1870s. Numbers estimated at more than 1500 are present during the summer in traditionally-occupied areas along the Eastmain, where there were at least 6600 animals in the 1850s. Both stocks continue to be hunted, although since 1986 community quotas have been set and hunting has been banned at the Marralik River of southern Ungava Bay. The Ungava Bay stock is clearly endangered, and any further harvesting will delay or prevent its recovery. The Eastmain stock may be able to sustain continued harvesting. However, there are at least four reasons for concern about its status: 1) even using optimistic assumptions to estimate past and current population size, the Eastmain stock appears to be about half its size in the mid-nineteenth century; 2) current catch quotas are high relative to estimates of sustainable yield, allowing little or no surplus production to ensure population increase (particularly if there is hunting loss which is not counted against the quota); 3) the Great Whale River, formerly a major summer congregating site of White Whales, appears no longer to be used by appreciable numbers of whales; and 4) proposed and ongoing hydroelectric projects and other environmental modifications could adversely affect White Whale habitat in this region. We therefore recommend that the Eastmain stock be classified as threatened.