Bowhead whale count shows growing numbers

Biologists with the federal fisheries department say a recent survey of bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea shows a population increase.

With the help of area residents, biologists counted and tagged the massive whales in late August. They counted 132 bowheads from the air alone during that period.

Biologists said the latest count suggests there are morebowheads nowthan during their last survey in the 1980s. It also gives evidence supporting other recent surveys in Alaska, which show numbers of bowheads areon the rise.

The population of bowhead whalesin the western Arctic is thought to bearound10,000.

Lois Harwood, a marine biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said the whales continue to prefer their traditional feeding areas in the sea.

"The whales were certainly attracted to the shelf off the [Tuktoyaktuk] Peninsula, for example, and off the Mackenzie Delta and off of the Yukon North Slope," Harwood told CBC News on Monday.

"It appeared very attractive to them, because there were so many of them there feeding."

Aklavik resident Pat Kisouk, who helped the researchers tag the whales, said he approached the animals in a six-metre long boat. The whales were abouttwice the length of his boat, he said.

"We'd be chasing one, and another one came up in a different place, and we couldn't tell which one we were chasing," Kisouk said.

"It was good. We bumped into lots when we were out there. We just couldn't get to the big ones. Every time they'd dive they'd disappear on us. It was quite a few out there."

Despite the growing numbers, the department still has concerns about how industrial activity, such as seismic exploration, could affect the bowheadwhales.

It has asked the federal government to list the species as of "special concern" under the Species at Risk Act. Ottawa is expected to make a decision on the department's request later this fall.