Technical Summary: BOEM Publication 2019-076

Study Title: Satellite Tracking of Bowhead Whales – Habitat Use, 

Passive Acoustic, and Environmental Monitoring

Report Title: Satellite Tracking of Bowhead Whales – Habitat 

Use, Passive Acoustic and Environmental Monitoring

Contract Number: M12PS00034, BOEM Study Number: 2019-076

Sponsoring OCS Region: Alaska

Applicable Planning Areas: Beaufort and Chukchi

Fiscal Years of Project Funding: 2012–2016

Completion Date of Report: November 2019

Cost by fiscal year; FY 2012: $799,947; FY 2013: $542,879; FY 

2014: $506,176; FY 2015: $510,660; FY 2016: $340,195

Cumulative Project Cost: $2,699,857

Project Manager: Lori Quakenbush

Affiliation: Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Address: 1300 College Road, Fairbanks, AK 99701

Principal Investigators: Lori Quakenbush and Robert J. Small

(now retired)

Key Words: Bowhead whale, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, 

feeding, satellite telemetry, movements, migration, petroleum 

exploration areas

Background: The western Arctic (or Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort) 

stock of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) is of high 

importance due to the nutritional and cultural value of bowhead 

whales to coastal Alaska Natives of the Bering, Chukchi, and 

Beaufort seas, their role in the marine ecosystem, and because 

their range overlaps with areas identified for potential oil and 

gas development and shipping. Movement patterns and feeding 

areas of this stock of bowhead whales, however, are not well 

understood. Increasing our understanding of bowhead whale 

movements, habitat use, and behavior will aid in resource 

planning and bowhead conservation. 

Objectives: This study was designed to provide data to address 

the objectives listed below and for data to be integrated with 

concurrent research on oceanographic conditions relative to 

variability in bowhead whale feeding behavior and habitat use. 

Specific objectives included: a) improving and deploying tags 

that collect acoustic and environmental data; b) evaluating 

bowhead vocalization rates and assessing if all bowheads migrate 

to the Canadian Beaufort in spring; c and d) determine if 

bowheads observed in summer near Point Barrow are returning from 

the Canadian Beaufort (objective c) or are late arrivals from 
the Chukchi Sea (objective d); e) determine if the tagged sample 

of whales is representative of the population; f) determine the 

residence time of whales near Point Barrow; g) estimate the rate 

and timing of travel of whales during migration across the 

Beaufort and Chukchi seas; determine the general pattern of 

movements and the variability in those movements; and i) tag 

other species of whales, if possible. 

Description: We worked with Native whalers from Alaska and 

marine mammal hunters from Canada to attach satellite 

transmitters to bowhead whales during 2012–2019 to document

movements and identify important habitats during all seasons. 

This work is a continuation of a five-year study from 2006 to 

2010, and a three-year study from 2010 to 2012.

Significant Conclusions: We further documented the extensive 

summer movements and timing of western Arctic bowhead whales. 

Some tagged bowhead whales use the entire Beaufort Sea in summer 

by “looping” between Amundsen Gulf and the Chukchi Sea in 

addition to the spring and fall migration trip. We quantified 

six areas where whales spend time, and are likely feeding, two 

in Canada (Cape Bathurst and the Tuktoyaktuk Shelf); one in 

Alaska (Point Barrow); and three in Russia (Northern Chukotka 

with Bering Strait, Anadyr Strait, and the Gulf of Anadyr). We 

analyzed the oceanographic factors that concentrate krill to 

better understand the conditions that drive bowhead movements. 

We analyzed the more variable fall migratory corridor in the 

Chukchi Sea between Point Barrow and Bering Strait, which 

includes the time bowheads spend in the Chukchi Lease Sale area 

in the fall. These movements also appear to be related to prey 

availability as determined by oceanographic factors that 

concentrate krill. We summarized the movements of bowhead 

whales, gray whales, beluga whales, ice seals, and walruses in 

the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas and then overlaid these 

data to identify multi-species core-use areas. The range of 

bowhead whales overlapped most with the ranges of several beluga 

whale stocks. In the winter of 2017/18, we documented a 

northward shift in bowhead winter range associated with a 

decline in sea ice in what was the primary wintering area in the 

Bering Sea. Tagged bowheads wintered in the Chukchi Sea in 

2017/18 when ice was absent in their typical wintering area. 

During the winter of 2018/19, sea ice was present, and bowheads 

remained in the northern portion of the Bering Sea wintering 

area. Bowhead whales sometimes shift their distribution in the 

fall away from the coast of Chukotka, Russia, and towards the 

north-central Chukchi Sea. Whales rarely lingered in the central 

Chukchi in early years (2006, 2007, 2008, or 2010); however, use 

of the north-central Chukchi was extensive in later years (2009, 
2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018). It appears that use of the 

north-central Chukchi as a fall feeding area is increasing. 

Preliminary analyses indicate that this is related to the 

prevalent wind patterns. Because west winds are becoming more 

common, bowheads may be shifting their fall distribution away 

from the Russian coast and into the central Chukchi Sea. The 

shift towards more use of the north-central Chukchi Sea will 

have implications for any oil and gas development within the 

Chukchi Sea.

Study Results: From 2012-2019 we worked with Native whalers from 

Alaska and marine mammal hunters from Canada to attach 28

satellite transmitters to bowhead whales. Sixteen were tagged 

near Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, nine were tagged near

the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, Canada, and three were tagged near 

St. Lawrence Island, Alaska for a total of 89 bowhead whales 

tagged since the project began in 2006. We combined information 

from all whales tagged to document movements and behavior. Most 

whales migrate from the wintering grounds in the Bering and 

southern Chukchi Sea to Amundsen Gulf, Canada. Only 1 of 26 

whales with data during the spring migration did not migrate to 

Amundsen Gulf, Canada. Although most whales summer in Amundsen 

Gulf, Canada, in June and July, we observed eight whales leave 

the Canadian Beaufort prior to the fall migration in late August 

and September. Five whales traveled west into the Alaskan 

Beaufort Sea, three of which passed west of Point Barrow, and 

then returned to the Canadian Beaufort prior to the fall 

migration. Two whales migrated to Russia in mid-summer. One 

whale left Amundsen Gulf and entered the Northwest Passage

(Viscount Melville Sound) where it remained until late August. 

Hence, we found the summer distribution of bowhead whales is 

much more dispersed than originally thought. Bowhead winter 

distribution has shifted northward with less ice in the Bering 

Sea since 2017. 

Study Products: We provided weekly e-mails of maps of bowhead 

movements and updates on the State of Alaska website. We made 

presentations to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, the 

International Whaling Commission, and at scientific meetings 

including the Society for Marine Mammal Conference, Alaska 

Marine Science Symposium, and the U.S.-Canada Oil and Gas 

Conference. We produced annual reports, a publically available 

report to the International Whaling Commission, and nine peerreviewed publications.