Research, Monitoring and Hunter Knowledge in Support of the 2017 Assessment of the Eastern Beaufort Sea Beluga Stock.

Here we summarize harvest and biological information for the Eastern Beaufort Sea (EBS) beluga to provide an updated stock assessment that combines science and Indigenous hunter knowledge. The number of EBS beluga whales harvested annually across its range has been variable, declining significantly over the available record in Canada (1980-2015). Including estimated and known loss rates from Canada and Alaska, the average annual removal of EBS beluga 2006-2015 (includes landed and struck but lost) was 145 whales (Standard Deviation 20.7). Catches in Chukotka, Russia, are < 10 belugas per year and we estimate mortality through ice entrapment averaged < 5 belugas per year from 1966 through 2015, but that too is highly variable from year-to-year. Declining interest and dependence on traditional foods and hunting, the high cost of hunting equipment and fuel, and increasingly challenging hunting conditions due to windier weather are described by hunters as the main reasons for the decline of the harvest over time. The decline in struck but lost rates is attributed to the establishment and implementation of beluga hunting by-laws by the local Inuvialuit Hunters and Trappers Committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]