THE STATUS OF THE LONG-FINNED PILOT WHALE, GLOBICEPHALA-MELAS, IN CANADA

The Long-finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala melas, is a mainly pelagic s pecies widely distributed in the cold temperate waters of the North At lantic and the Southern Hemisphere. It regularly migrates in summer to Canadian inshore waters following spawning squid. Drive fisheries fro m 1947 to 1971 seriously depleted numbers of Globicephala melas off Ne wfoundland. Mass strandings represent a major known source of natural mortality for this species. The effects of incidental entrapments, pol lutants, and fisheries for prey species remain relatively unknown, but these factors have the potential for limiting this species. Globiceph ala melas has recently been used in satellite tracking and DNA fingerp rinting studies, and is a common subject in the study of mass strandin gs. There are few reliable recent population estimates for Globicephal a melas, but even optimistic recovery forecasts based on drive fisheri es in Newfoundland would produce a present population substantially lo wer than pre-whaling numbers. Given that there are no immediate threat s to the population a COSEWIC status designation would not seem to be warranted at this time.