Addressing beluga conservation threats

The Beluga Bits project through Zooniverse with support from Polar Bears International and explore.org is starting to address conservation threats. Since their inception of the project in 2016, the project is mostly collecting data but this will lead to learning more about this western Hudson Bay/Churchill River Estuary population. The data they are collecting through snapshots from citizen scientists will help better understand how the population is being affected by  common beluga threats. According to the Manitoba Western Hudson Bay Ad Hoc Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan Committee (2016), these conservation threats include an increase in human produced underwater noise, pollution, and climate change leading to an increased predation from polar bears and orcas. Understanding if individuals have site fidelity can lead to understanding how their migration could be affected by various sources of underwater noise. Looking at scars on individuals will determine how they are being preyed upon. Additionally, because these whales live more than half of the year in sea ice, they will certainly be affected by climate change and the warming of the sea water. Beluga Bits data will have the ability to help protect these whales if we continue to learn more about their natural history and I’m excited to be a part of this process. 

Proactive conservation for the protection of beluga whales in Manitoba (Williams, 2016). 

Most odontocetes, or toothed whales, like belugas rely on echolocation to find prey, communicate with others, and avoid predators. They have such a wide range of vocalizations, they have been given the nickname “canaries of the sea” (WWF, n.d). A study on the acoustics the whales make was conducted during 2006-2008 and was the first of its kind for this population. It was noted that due to some limitations, more research needs to be performed to further study and monitor changes, but this information is important as the area will experience ecosystem changes (Chmelnitsky & Ferguson, 2012). As the sea ice melts, more boat traffic will ensue and create a noisier underwater environment. This then could alter the types and frequencies of the calls made by the whales, affecting their communication with other individuals. In addition to the increase in noise pollution from melting sea ice, more orcas will be brought into the area and can affect the acoustics of the belugas (Chmelnitsky & Ferguson, 2012). Additional and continued data collection needs to be completed to further understand what impact human disturbances in the underwater environment will be.

Graphic of how echolocation works in beluga whales from explore.org comments during Beluga Boat tour. 

According to the Manitoba Western Hudson Bay Ad Hoc Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan Committee (2016), the anticipation of pollution of the Manitoba waters in which belugas live, has a high certainty of a high impact, leading to a high level of concern. This pollution can be from fuel and oil spills of nearby trains and runoff from roads due to Chuchill being an active port. Belugas are mammals and therefore breathe air. Any contaminant on the surface of the water can be harmful when they inhale after feeding or traveling through an area. They also can dive very deep in order to find available prey like crustaceans and mollusks, further putting them at risk for ingesting toxins that settle on the seafloor (Government of Canada, 2017). Beluga whales are a top predator in the arctic waters and therefore can accumulate toxins in their bodies as they consume contaminated prey, a process called bioaccumulation. This is also telling of the health of the environment the belugas are living in, if the health of the beluga population deteriorates (IUCN, 2009). The Beluga Bits project can learn about the health of the population if there is site fidelity and can then determine how the population would respond to a major oil spill, such as a change in calving rates in females or a sudden decrease in overall population numbers. 

Climate change is becoming a more imminent threat for beluga whales that will have direct and indirect responses. The snapshots taken of the belugas can show scars (a way to recognize and identify individuals) from predators, which can then be monitored. If the sea ice is melting, belugas will have a more difficult time hiding from one of their main predators, orcas (WWF, n.d.). This could be evidence of more scars or wounds, called rake marks, showing up on the belugas when they arrive in the bay (see image below from Beluga Bits). An increase in the amount of sea ice free from Hudson Bay, allows the orcas the ability to hunt the belugas in this open water. As temperatures rise, humans will gain access to once uninhabitable arctic regions that the belugas depend on. This could lead to the increase in boat traffic for tourism, shipping/transportation, and recreation causing injuries or death from ship strikes, fuel leaks, and noise disturbances (IUCN, 2009). The Beluga Bits project gains knowledge during the boat trips, collecting GPS coordinates and can monitor changes in seasonal weather as well as where and when the belugas are found within the estuary. This will lead to a more clear understanding to best protect these curious white whales of the great north.

Resources

Beluga Bits available at: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/stephenresearch/beluga-bits

Chmelnitsky, E.G. & Ferguson, S.H. (2012). Beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, vocalizations from the Churchill River, Manitoba, Canada. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 131, 4821.  https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4707501 

Government of Canada. (2017). Beluga Whale (Western Hudson Bay Population). Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Available at: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/beluga-west-beluga-ouest-p-eng.html

IUCN. 2009. Beluga Whales and Climate Change. Available at: https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/fact_sheet_red_list_beluga_v2.pdf

Manitoba Western Hudson Bay Ad Hoc Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan Committee. (2016). Manitoba’s Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan. Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship. Winnipeg, Manitoba. 30pp. Available at: http://digitalcollection.gov.mb.ca/awweb/pdfopener?smd=1&did=24797&md=1

Williams, G. (2016). Manitoba’s Beluga Habitat Sustainability Plan Will Make Canada a Better Place. Churchill Wild: Polar Bear Blog. Available at: https://churchillwild.com/manitobas-beluga-habitat-sustainability-plan-will-make-canada-a-better-place/

WWF. (n.d.). Protecting the Beluga Whale. Canada’s Oceans Programme. Available at: http://awsassets.wwf.ca/downloads/beluga_fact_sheet_final.pdf