RECENT STATUS OF BOWHEAD WHALES, BALAENA-MYSTICETUS, IN THE WINTERINGGROUNDS OFF WEST GREENLAND

Bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, belonging to the Davis Strait/Baff in Bay stock, have historically wintered in Baffin Bay and Davis Strai t, including waters along the west coast of Greenland in and near the entrance of Disko Bay. Aerial surveys of the Disko Bay region during l ate winter (1981, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994) showed that it was still visited regularly by a few tens of whales. Commercial whaling on bowheads in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait ended in about 1915, but occa sional killing continued until as recently as the 1970s. The low numbe rs of bowheads observed off West Greenland in recent years are consist ent with the results of surveys of the summering grounds in the easter n Canadian Arctic, indicating that any recovery has been exceedingly s low. The only conclusion supported by the data is that the current sto ck size is a small fraction of what it was prior to commercial whaling .