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Arctic Report Card

Marine Mammals

M. Simpkins

NOAA Fisheries Service

October 19, 2009
No new updates for 2010

photo collage with belouga, narwhal, ringed seals, walrus, bowhead whale, bearded seal and polar bear

Figure M1. Marine mammals found in the Arctic. Clockwise from the upper left: Beluga whales, Narwhal, Ringed seal, Walrus, Bowhead whale, Bearded Seal, and center, Polar Bear. Photo Credits.

A variety of marine mammals can be found in the Arctic at least seasonally. Seven species are present in the Arctic year-round and are often associated with sea ice—bowhead whale, beluga whale, narwhal, ringed seal, bearded seal, walrus, and polar bear. All seven of these species are important top predators within Arctic marine ecosystems. As such they may serve as sentinels of Arctic climate change, with changes in their status reflecting ecosystem-wide perturbations1. Table M1 summarizes current knowledge regarding the abundance and trends of these species. Unfortunately, abundance estimates are not available for one or more populations of most species, and trends are unknown for even more populations. Further, some of the available estimates are based on data from the 1990s or earlier and, therefore, are out of date. It is clear, even from this limited information, that several populations of Arctic marine mammals are quite small (e.g., Ungava Bay and Cook Inlet belugas, Lake Saimaa ringed seals, and several stocks of polar bears each have 400 or fewer animals), and this raises concerns about the potential impact of catastrophes such as oil spills or disease outbreaks. Also, all species with sufficient data exhibit mixed population trends, with some populations of each species increasing while others are stable or declining. The available data are not sufficient for an analysis of trends by region (e.g., to highlight regions within which populations of several species are all increasing or all declining). However, it is likely that species within a region will exhibit different trends because they occupy very different ecological niches, ranging from the bowhead whale that filters zooplankton out of the water to the polar bear that hunts seals on the sea ice (Table M2).

A comprehensive assessment of the status of Arctic marine mammals must consider current population demography and dynamics as well as the resistance or resilience of each species to current and projected threats. Arctic marine mammals appear to be in a tenuous position—they are adapted to life in seas that are at least seasonally ice-covered, and the extent of summer ice cover is rapidly diminishing41. These species are long-lived and reproduce slowly and, although they have persisted through ice ages and interglacial periods in the past, it is unclear how quickly they can adapt to rapid changes in habitat. The impacts of reduced sea ice vary depending on the ecological relationship between each species and sea ice41 (Table M2). A recent special publication of Ecological Applications provides a comprehensive review of the likely impacts of climate change on Arctic marine mammals42, and other reviews discuss impacts of climate change on marine mammals broadly at a global scale43 and in more detail for the North Atlantic Arctic44.

Although assessment of future impacts is by its very nature speculative, currently observed impacts on polar bears and walruses indicate that Arctic marine mammals will almost certainly be affected by the predicted changes in Arctic marine ecosystems 45. Reduced sea ice has already been implicated in lower body condition and reduced survival of polar bears in western Hudson Bay, and similar impacts are likely elsewhere as sea ice breaks up earlier and bears are forced to fast on shore longer 46,47. The record sea ice retreat of 2007 caused Pacific walruses to haul out along the shores of Alaska and Russia in unusually large numbers and in new locations 48. The immediate impact of this redistribution was an increase in trampling deaths as walruses on shore stampeded in response to terrestrial disturbances 48. Over the long-term, walruses could deplete nearshore benthic resources if they are forced to use land haul-out sites exclusively in the future. Similar shifts in the seasonal distribution of all Arctic marine mammals are likely. For example, species that are strongly tied to sea ice habitats, such as the polar bear and ringed seal, may be limited in the future to areas with sea ice refugia (e.g., summer sea ice is predicted to persist longer in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago than elsewhere), whereas sub-Arctic or migratory species may be able to access areas where sea ice had previously excluded them41. Further, species or populations that either migrate with the sea ice edge or make forays to the ice edge from coastal areas may have to travel farther and expend more energy as the summer sea ice edge retreats farther from the coast and from the location of the winter ice edge 49,50.

In addition to the more obvious impacts that changes in the distribution and quality of habitat will have on the distribution of Arctic marine mammals, early spring rains could cause ringed seal lairs to collapse, exposing their pups to hypothermia and increased predation by polar bears and arctic foxes 51, and it has been suggested that increased variability in sea ice and weather conditions could result in more frequent ice entrapments of narwhals and belugas 52,53. Further, changes in the seasonality of ice retreat could result in changes in the timing and location of phytoplankton blooms (e.g., associated with the melting ice edge or in open water following ice retreat), which in turn could influence both the total amount of primary production and the allocation of that production among pelagic and benthic food webs 39. Of course, in addition to environmental impacts, reduced sea ice will make the Arctic more accessible for some species (e.g., gray whales1) and for human activities, some of which could impact marine mammals (e.g., oil spills, habitat alteration, prey removals, contaminants, and ship strikes). Also, all of these species are harvested for subsistence, with varying degrees of regulation among populations and regions.

Given the threats (both observed and predicted) facing marine mammals, there is justifiable cause for concern regarding populations that are small or declining, as well as those for which information is insufficient. Expanded and accelerated research and monitoring efforts will be necessary to detect changes in the status of Arctic marine mammal populations and to identify the causes of those changes in time to allow developing problems to be addressed 54,55,56.

Map of the Arctic with place names
Figure M2. Map of the Arctic with place names referred to in the text or in Table M1.

Table M1. Current abundance and trends of Arctic marine mammal species. Information on abundance, trends, and most recent data (year) are summarized by biological stock, except for ringed seals, bearded seals, and walruses, whose stock structure is unknown (see table footnotes). Figure M2 indicates the locations of place names referred to here. Citation numbers refer to literature cited.
Species Stock Abundance Year Trend Citation(s)
Bowhead whale Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas 10,500 2001 increasing 2
E. Canada-W. Greenland 6,300 2002-2004 increasing 3,4
Spitsbergen unknown — unknown 5
Okhotsk Sea <400 1979 unknown 5
Beluga whale Cook Inlet 380 2007 stable 6
Eastern Bering Sea 18,100 2000 unknown 7
Bristol Bay 3,300 2005 increasing 6
Eastern Chukchi Sea 3,700 1989-1991 unknown 6
Eastern Beaufort Sea 39,300 1992 unknown 6
Foxe Basin 1,000 1983 unknown 8
Western Hudson Bay 57,300 2004 unknown 9
Southern Hudson Bay 1,300 1987 unknown 10
James Bay 4,000 2004 unknown 11
St. Lawrence River 1,200 2005 stable 12
Eastern Hudson Bay 4,300 2004 declining 13
Ungava Bay <50 2007 unknown 14
Cumberland Sound 1,500 1999 increasing 15
E. High Arctic-Baffin Bay 21,200 1996 stable 16
West Greenland 7,900 1998-1999 unknown 17
3 stocks in Okhotsk Sea 18-20,000 1987 unknown 18
11 additional stocks unknown — unknown  
Narwhal Canadian High Arctic >60,000 2002-2004 unknown 19
Northern Hudson Bay 3,500 2000 unknown 20
West Greenland 2,000 1998-1999 unknown 21,22
East Greenland >1,000 1980-1984 unknown 21,23
Ringed seala Arctic subspecies ~2.5 million 1970s unknown 24
Baltic Sea subspecies 5,000-8,000 1990s mixed 25
Lake Saimaa subspecies 280 2005 increasing 26
Lake Ladoga subspecies 3,000-5,000 2001 unknown 27
Okhotsk Sea subspecies >800,000 1971 unknown 24
Bearded sealb Bering-Chukchi Seas 250-300,000 1970s unknown 28
Canadian waters 190,000 1958-1979 unknown 29
Atlantic and Russian Arctic unknown — unknown  
Okhotsk Sea 200-250,000 1968-1969 unknown 28
Walrusc Bering-Chukchi Seas ~201,000 1990 unknown 30
Atlantic subspecies 18-20,000 2006 mixed 31,32,33,34
Laptev Sea 4,000-5,000 1982 unknown 35
Other regions unknown — unknown  
Polar beard Chukchi Sea 2,000 1993 unknown 36
Southern Beaufort Sea 1,500 2006 declining 36
Northern Beaufort Sea 1,200 1986 stable 36
Viscount Melville Sound 220 1992 increasing 36
McClintock Channel 280 2000 increasing 36
Norwegian Bay 190 1998 declining 36
Lancaster Sound 2,500 1998 stable 36
Gulf of Boothia 1,500 2000 stable 36
Foxe Basin 2,200 1994 stable 36
Western Hudson Bay 940 2004 declining 36
Southern Hudson Bay 1,000 1988 stable 36
Baffin Bay 2,100 1998 declining 36
Davis Strait 1,700 2004 unknown 36
Kane Basin 160 1998 declining 36
Barents Sea 2,700 2004 unknown 37
Laptev Sea 4,000-5,000 1993 unknown 36
3 other stocks unknown — unknown  

a Ringed seal stock structure unknown; information summarized for five recognized subspecies.
b Bearded seal stock structure unknown; information summarized for geographic regions.
c Walrus stock structure unknown; information summarized for Atlantic subspecies and geographic regions for Pacific subspecies.
d Recent analysis of genetic, ecological and life history data from Canadian polar bears suggests that their stock structure may need to be revised 38.

Table M2. Key Arctic marine mammal species ecology
Species Primary Diet 39 Relationship with Sea Ice Habitat 40
Bowhead whale Zooplankton (filter feeder) Forage in productive marginal ice zone
Beluga whale Diverse fishes and invertebrates Refuge from predation?
Access ice-associated prey
Narwhal Ice-associated and benthic fishes (deep diver) Forage in areas of very dense ice
Ringed seal Diverse fishes and invertebrates Resting and nursing platform
Access ice-associated prey
Bearded seal Benthic invertebrates Resting and nursing platform
Access to benthic foraging grounds
Walrus Benthic invertebrates Resting and nursing platform
Access to benthic foraging grounds
Polar bear Seals (primarily ringed) and other marine mammals Hunting platform

Acknowledgments

The information summarized here was collected through the hard work of countless Arctic researchers whose contributions to this report far outweigh the author’s own. Kit Kovacs, Randy Reeves, and their colleagues in the Pinniped and Cetacean Specialist Groups of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provided invaluable help by identifying key sources of information for Arctic marine mammal stocks. Joselyd Garcia compiled the information presented in Table M1, and Mina Innes produced Figure M1. This report was improved by comments on earlier versions by Mike Cameron, Mike Gill, Bob Gisiner, Kit Kovacs, Kristin Laidre, Sue Moore, Jim Overland, Tim Ragen, Jackie Richter-Menge, Randy Reeves, Dave Rugh, Michael Svoboda, and anonymous reviewers.

Photo Credits for collage of Marine Mammals in Figure 1:

Bowhead: Julie Mocklin, National Marine Mammal Lab, AFSC, NMFS, NOAA
Beluga: Laura Morse, National Marine Mammal Lab, AFSC, NMFS, NOAA
Narwhal: Kristin Laidre, University of Washington
Ringed seal: Brendan P. Kelly, University of Alaska Southeast
Bearded seal: Ian Stirling, Environment Canada
Walrus: Ian Stirling, Environment Canada
Polar bear: Ian Stirling, Environment Canada
Collage created by Tracey Nakamura, NOAA/PMEL

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