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Species of Special Concern
Photo courtesy of NOAAStatus
Alaska endangered species; Federal endangered species
Description
Bowhead whales are the only baleen whales that spend their entire lives in and around Arctic waters. They are robust-bodied, dark-colored animals with no dorsal fin and a strongly bowed lower jaw and narrow upper jaw. The baleen plates of bowhead whales, which are used to strain prey from the water, are the longest of any baleen whale, exceeding 9.5 feet. Bowheads may reach lengths of up to 62 feet; females are larger than males.
Habitats and Habits
Four or five separate stocks of bowhead whales inhabit Arctic waters. The bowhead whales found off Alaska spend the winter months in the southwestern Bering Sea. They migrate northward in the spring, following openings ("leads") in the pack ice, into the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Their primary prey are krill and zooplankton. Bowheads are slow swimmers and usually travel alone or in small herds of up to six animals. Although they may stay below the water surface for as long as forty minutes in a single dive, they are not thought to be deep divers. Breeding has been observed from March through August; conception is believed to occur primarily in March. Scientists believe females produce a calf once every 3 to 6 years.
Causes of Decline
Commercial whaling of bowhead populations began in the 1600s near Greenland. During this time, whalers wiped out entire herds of whales in one area and then moved on to others. In the North Pacific, the commercial fishery did not begin until the mid-1800s, but within two decades over 60 percent of the bowhead whale population had been killed. The stock off Alaska has increased since commercial whaling ceased. In 1990 it was estimated at about 7,800 animals, roughly 41 percent of the pre-whaling population. Alaska Natives continue to take small numbers of bowhead whales in subsistence hunts each year. This level of harvest (25-40 animals annually) is not expected to affect the stock's recovery.
Range of the Bowhead Whale in Alaskan watersResearch and Recovery
Bowhead whales, along with the other large whale species, were declared to be endangered species in 1973, under the federal Endangered Species Act. Commercial whaling, the principal cause of the decline, has been discontinued. The bowhead whale population of Alaska's coast appears to be recovering but remains a fraction of its former size. The status of the other bowhead stocks is less well known. These stocks are thought to be very small, probably in the low hundreds.
Text: Susan Mello
For Additional Information
Please contact:
Doug Vincent-Lang
(907) 267-2339
