Diet and foraging ecology of bowhead whales in Cumberland Sound, NU - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sarah Fortune1, Steve Ferguson2, Mark Baumgartner3, Bernard LeBlanc2 & Andrew Trites1

1 University of British Columbia 2 Fisheries and Oceans Canada & University of Manitoba 3 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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Diet and foraging ecology of bowhead whales in Cumberland Sound, NU

¤ Energy rich Arctic copepods ¤ Whale behaviour suggests deep feeding ¤ Probable prey concentrations at depth ¤ Cumberland Sound seasonally important

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50 55 60 65 70 75

200 400 600 km

Zooplankton sampling locations

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64.0 64.5 65.0 65.5 66.0 66.5 67.0

Cumberland Sound

Baffin Island Pangnirtung 20 40 60 km

Hudson Bay

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Davis Strait

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¤ Surface (0.5 m) ¤ Oblique (~12 m) ¤ Vertical (~200 m) ¤ Multiple depth strata

Whale dive behaviour classification

Bottom time >50% total dive duration ¤ 3 days in Kingnait Fiord ¤ ~20 minute dives ¤ >90% square dives ¤ Dive depth ~197 m