US EPA

4964868 

Journal Article 

The status of the Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus, in Canada 

Cleator, HJ 

1996 

Yes 

Canadian Field-Naturalist
ISSN: 0008-3550 

110 

3 

501-510 

WOS:A1996VW44700015 

Bearded Seals, Erignathus barbatus, reside year-round in Canadian arctic and sub-arctic waters. They are patchily distributed at relatively low densities throughout their range, typically inhabiting areas of broken ice and open water with depths of less than 200 m. Estimates of population size are not available, although summing different indices obtained over the past 35 years for several different regions suggest that a minimum of 190 000 Bearded Seals may inhabit Canadian waters. Hunt statistics collected between the late 1950s and mid-1980s for 46 arctic communities indicated an annual harvest of approximately 3000 to 5000 animals. Current rates of harvest are available only for a few arctic communities, but hunters appear to be taking fewer seals now than they did several decades ago. Information on current sightings and catch-per-unit-effort obtained from hunters across the Arctic suggest that Bearded Seal stacks are stable in Canada. The collection of harvest information should be resumed and continued on a routine basis in all northern communities. Better estimates of age-specific rates of natural mortality and pregnancy are also needed, as well as current population size and growth rates. 

Erignathus barbatus; Bearded Seal; phoque barbue; arctic marine mammals; Phocidae; pinnipeds; seals; status