Researchers hope Beaufort Sea beluga tagging will shed light on whale diets, travelling habits

People in the Beaufort Delta region of the Northwest Territories are hoping a plannedbeluga whale taggingprogram will shed new light on whale habits.

About a month ago, members of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), the Fisheries Joint Management Committee and the Inuvialuit Game Council participated in consultations with the entire Inuvialuit Settlement Region on the program, scheduled to start in thesummer of 2018.

Shannon MacPhee, anaquatic biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said as far as she knows, this is the first time the department has held so many consultations on beluga whales.

She added she hopes a new round of tagging, which hasn't happened in the region since 2005, fills "knowledge gaps" about belugas, including their travelhabits.

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"In 2014, there were whales around Ulukhaktok and Sachs Harbor, which is unusual to see so many whales so close to the communities at that time," said MacPhee.

Researchers are also hoping to learn more about the beluga diet. After studying harvestedbelugasin 2014, MacPhee says her team noticed a change in the belugas' fatty acid composition, which signifiedtheir food sources had changed as well.

"[Their diet] was very diverse in that year compared to previous years where their diet was mainly composed of arctic cod," she said.

MacPhee added the tagging program will provide baseline information about beluga behaviour and movement so researchers can design an updated aerial survey, which helps estimate beluga numbers. Macphee says the last aerial survey was done in 1992.

Data could show impact of shipping on belugas

John Noksana Jr., a lifelong Tuktoyaktuk resident and vice-chair for the Fisheries Joint Management Committee, said one of the main concerns he has is how shipping impacts the whales.

"[If] we do this beluga tagging, we could put corridors for areas to be avoided, speed limits and so on and so forth for shipping and oil and gas," he said.

"Whaling is a big part of us and the ocean is a big part of the Inuvialuit."

Pros and cons to tagging

Although tagging can provide much needed answers to many questions, it can also be seen as disruptive.

MacPhee said she's answered questions from residents and members of each community's respective Hunters and Trappers Committee about how the whales would be handled.

"We have animal care protocols that we follow and we have very clean methods for handling whales," she said. "We want to run a program that people find valuable."

MacPhee says the next step is to continue scientific planning and figure out finer details in the spring.

If approved, the tagging program would last a minimum two years.