Eastern Arctic bowhead population up

There are now about 3,000 bowhead whales in the Eastern Arctic, up from a few hundred animals 10 years ago, according to a new stock assessment by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans,

The higher estimated population numbers could mean the bowhead will be struck from the endangered species list when the Committee on the Status of Endangered Species meets in November.

In Alaska, where the bowhead population is about 11,000, Inupiat have a quota of more than 50 whales a year.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is now expected to re-examine Nunavut’s quota.

Before the arrival of whalers in the Eastern Arctic in the early 1800s, the population of bowheads was about 11,000. Numbers had dropped so much that between 1922 and 1975 only seven bowheads were hunted. Since 1995, four whales have been harvested in community hunts.