This is a postgraduate funded project and researchers were from the University of Manitoba.
The story below originally appeared in the December 2005 Hydrogram, Manitoba Hydro's internal employee newsletter.
For more information on this project, contact us and please quote project number G201.
This past summer, a team which included experienced individuals from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, as well as research partners, captured beluga whales in the Nelson River Estuary at Hudson's Bay to tag them.
Once tagged with a satellite-linked radio transmitter, the whales can be tracked daily. Data is collected and transmitted to orbiting satellites and downloaded to a receiving station. Information acquired by tags is then used to help in researching status and habitat use of belugas.
Hydro is one of four groups that funds this type of research in the North — which goes far beyond just belugas. “It is our contribution to provide information that has never been available before. We will also have baseline info to determine whether or not we are causing any changes with our developments on the Nelson River,” said Roy Bukowsky, Senior Environmental Specialist at Manitoba Hydro.
While it will be important to find out what environmental impact the Conawapa Dam project will have on the area in terms of river flow, water temperature, and flora and fauna, there are other benefits to this research apart from how it relates to Hydro.
“The scientific community knows virtually nothing about Hudson Bay — so this is the beginning of the collection of study material,” said Roy.
It is now estimated that there are 50,000 belugas in the Hudson Bay area. “That makes it the biggest beluga population in the world,” said Roy. Belugas are small whales that travel in pods in the summer to warm shallow waters to molt, feed and for protection from predatory killer whales. This is the best time to capture and tag them.
The 11 member team, who has tagged six belugas with this project since 2002, set out on July 26 to begin the tagging for 2005. The goal this year was to tag 10 whales.
The live-capture team uses two zodiacs and a jet-boat in a triangle formation with the zodiacs as scouts in front.
"Everyone was really hoping for good weather. They were excited to get started — and the weather turned out to be ideal. Within 10 minutes we were spotting whales! We were off to a great start," said Manitoba Hydro corporate photographer Mario Palumbo who spent a day with the team.
The boats herded the group of belugas into shallow water, about two meters deep. The jet boat dropped the net and then circled the whales at high speed until they were corralled. The zodiacs kept them restrained by remaining on either side of them.
"Within seconds everyone is hurrying to get the nets off the whales. They want to cause them as little stress as possible," said Mario. "One of the boat drivers really had a way with them. He kept stroking the whale and it calmed right down."
Jack Orr, a beluga researcher with over 20 years of experience, measured the two whales and to everyone's disappointment, found that both were too young. The satellite transmitters being used cost about $4,000 each, so it is important that they are attached to whales old enough to have thicker skin which will hold the transceiver in place.
“It was really only a matter of minutes before we had let the whales go. Everyone's hopes were up that we would soon find some more,” said Mario. “Unfortunately the rest of the whales had sensed danger and had headed into deeper waters and out of range.”
The beluga study also involves intensive aerial surveys flown at the same time as the tagging. The information gleaned from that, as well as the information from the data collecting sensors which are located in various areas in the water, can help piece together a bigger picture. That includes gathering information on global warming and the impacts of climate change in the coastal Canadian Arctic.
“Through our work up north and now as part of the ArcticNet program, we have the opportunity to make even greater environmental assessment contributions now,” said Roy.
Even though Mario's day ended without a whale being tagged, the research up north will be continuing, even through the winter, in other types of studies – each one challenging due to the extreme weather conditions and terrain in the Arctic.
