Study of fall movements of Beaufort Sea Belugas, using satellite telemetry: 1997

Pierre R. Richard*, Anthony R. Martin+, and Jack R. Orr*

We used satellite-linked transmitters to study the fall migration route of Beaufort Sea belugas to their wintering area. With the help of Inuvialuit hunters from Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik, belugas were live-captured and tagged in the delta of the Mackenzie River, N.T.

The image above shows tracks of seven belugas tracked between late July 1997 and late October 1997. Each coloured line represents a different animal. The black lines represent seabed depth contours at 500, 1000, 2000 and 3000 m. Our results confirm a westward fall migration route through Alaskan waters, as was previously described from aerial surveys and previous tagging results. They also demonstrate a subsequent migration to the Western Chukchi and East Siberian Sea, followed for some belugas by movements south towards the Bering Strait. Beaufort Sea belugas had earlier been hypothesized to winter in the Bering Sea.

Our previous tagging efforts in 1993 and 1995 resulted in one beluga migrating to the East Siberian Sea but it was not known whether this was a migratory path common to other Beaufort Sea belugas. All other 93-95 tags failed before the animals reached Alaskan or Siberian waters.

This project was funded by the Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee, the US Mineral Management Services, the UK Sea Mammal Research Unit and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.