General information
Congratulations to Billy Adams, Craig George, Carl Nayakik, Jared Nayakik, Jordan Kippi, Qaiyaan Leavitt, Quuniq Donovan and Justin Gatten of Utqiaġvik and John Citta from ADFG in Fairbanks for a very successful bowhead tagging season. Ten whales have been tagged near Utqiaġvik: one on the 2nd, one on the 20th , five on the 21st and three on the 25th of September. Four of the transmitters were Splash10 tags made by Wildlife Computers in Seattle; six were CTD tags made by the Sea Mammal Research Unit in St. Andrews, Scotland. Both tag types collect position and dive information. The CTD tags collect information on water temperature and how salty the water is (salinity) and will be used to help determine the type and source of water bowhead whales are feeding in. Both tag types are programmed to collect data that will be used to correct the BOEM-NSB aerial surveys for how many whales are diving when the aircraft flies over, as well as gathering more information on feeding areas, migration routes, wintering areas, and to see if bowheads may be overlapping with Bering Sea fishing/crabbing operations.
This year’s tagging effort was a collaboration between the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Arctic Marine Mammal Program and the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management. Funding is provided by the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management and Office of Naval Research and the NSB. Tagging activities are conducted under NMFS permit #18890 issued to ADF&G and under an approved ADF&G Animal Care and Use Committee Protocol #0027-2018-29. For updates on whale locations, you will find updated maps and archives at this ADFG website. There are also maps showing the locations of bowhead whales tagged in Canada. Maps provided by Justin Crawford (ADFG). Sea ice data are courtesy of the U.S. National Ice Center.
2018 Bowhead Satellite Tagging Season
September 17, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. One 45-50 foot bowhead whale (B18-01) was tagged on September 2nd, near Utqiagvik, Alaska, by Billy Adams, Jordan Kippi, Qaiyaan Leavitt, and John Citta.. This tag did not transmit at first and we feared the tag was placed too low on the whale. On 15 September, the Argos satellite system finally got a lock on the tag’s position and the tag is currently transmitting normally. Interestingly, the tagged whale moved east after tagging. Since the tag came back on the air, the whale has moved west, past Kaktovik, and is now in Camden Bay. We commonly see tagged whales make such loops in July and August, but this is the first loop we have observed in September. East winds cause upwelling along the shelf break and deliver whale food onto the shelf. Most of the winds over the last month have been west winds, which do not promote good feeding conditions, and the tagged whale may have circled east looking for food. We now have east winds and whales are being sighted near-shore at Utqiagvik.
September 28, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. We wrapped up our 2018 bowhead tagging efforts on Tuesday, 25 September, tagging 10 bowhead whales near Utqiaġvik, Alaska. As of this moment, all ten tags are communicating with the ARGOS satellites. The satellites have yet to lock on a position for three of the tags, but the company that operates the satellites tells us that the tags should yield positions soon. We also have three tags from last year that are still transmitting.
October 8, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last twelve days we have received locations from 12 tags deployed on bowhead whales: 3 were deployed near Tuktoyaktuk in 2017 and 9 were deployed near Utqiaġvik in 2018. All bowhead whales are generally between Kaktovik, Alaska, and Wrangel Island, Russia.
October 15, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. All bowhead whales are generally between Kaktovik, Alaska, and Wrangel Island, Russia.
October 22, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. Bowhead B17-01 is the only tagged bowhead whale still in the Beaufort Sea and is currently between Kaktovik and Utqiaġvik. The remaining whales are in the northern Chukchi Sea, generally between Utqiaġvik and Wrangel Island, Russia.
November 5, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last fourteen days we have received locations from 11 tags deployed on bowhead whales; 3 were deployed near Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, in 2017 and 8 were deployed near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2018. Bowheads B17-01 (dark green) and B17-03 (yellow) are offshore of Wainwright, AK. Bowhead B18-07 (light green) is south of Wrangel Island, Russia. Bowheads B18-01 (blue) and B18-02 (orange) are moving along the north coast of Russia. The remaining whales are in the northcentral Chukchi Sea, generally between Utqiaġvik and Wrangel Island.
November 13, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. Bowheads B17-01 (dark green) and B17-03 (yellow) are offshore of Wainwright, AK. Bowheads B18-01 (blue), B18-02 (orange), B18-07 (light green), and B18-10 (dark red) are moving along the north coast of Russia or approaching the coast. The remaining whales are in the northcentral Chukchi Sea, generally between Utqiaġvik and Wrangel Island, Russia.
November 19, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last ten days we have received locations from 9 tags deployed on bowhead whales; 2 were deployed near Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, in 2017 and 7 were deployed near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2018. Five bowheads are moving along the north coast of Russia, between Cape Schmidt and Cape Serdtse-Kamen, and are within 3 to 12 miles (5–19 km) of the coast. The remaining four whales are in the northcentral Chukchi Sea, generally between Utqiaġvik and Wrangel Island, Russia.
December 3, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last ten days we have received locations from 8 tags deployed on bowhead whales; 1 was deployed near Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, in 2017 and 7 were deployed near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2018. Seven of the bowheads moved along the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula near Cape Serdtse-Kamen and Cape Dezhneva, 6 passed south through the Bering Strait, 4 of which also moved back north into the Chukchi Sea. These bowheads were generally within 1 to 28 miles (2–45 km) of the coast. B18-05 (white arrow) went from the northcentral Chukchi Sea, generally between Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and Wrangel Island, Russia, south to the central Chukchi Sea, west of Point Hope, Alaska, moving roughly 820 miles (1,320 km) in 10 days.
December 10, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last ten days we have received locations from 9 tags deployed on bowhead whales; 2 were deployed near Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, in 2017 and 7 were deployed near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2018. Eight of the bowheads are located within sea ice along the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula, between Cape Serdtse-Kamen in the Chukchi Sea and Cape Chukotskiy in the Bering Sea; 7 of these 8 bowheads have moved south, through Bering Strait, into the Bering Sea. B18-05 (white arrow) is located in open water in the central Chukchi Sea, west of Point Hope, Alaska.
December 17, 2018
Bowhead whale movements. During the last ten days we have received locations from 8 tags deployed on bowhead whales; 2 were deployed near Tuktoyaktuk, Canada, in 2017 and 6 were deployed near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in 2018. Seven of the bowheads are located within sea ice in the Bering Sea, along the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula, generally between Cape Dezhneva and St. Lawrence Island. B18-05 (white arrow) is located within sea ice in the southern Chukchi Sea.
