Ecology of ringed seals in Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin

Ringed seal foraging ecology

Ringed seal (Phoca hispida) abundance estimates for spring in western Hudson Bay show declining numbers between 1995 and 2000. It is not yet clear whether this pattern is common to other areas of Hudson Bay. However, the current trend in abundance for western Hudson Bay has prompted efforts to identify the areas that are most important for ringed seals in the region. Therefore, we began investigating several aspects of ringed seal foraging ecology, including movements, haul-out and diving behaviour, in order to understand where and what resources are important for them.

We highlight here our preliminary results from our ongoing study in the Belcher Islands and Foxe Basin, where we started deploying ringed seals with instruments that relay location and diving behaviour data. This is the first time such data are obtained for ringed seals in these areas, so we are very excited to share this information. Efforts are made to update the seal tracks below regularly, so they represent our latest data available as closely as possible.

People

This project is supervised by Dr. Steven H. Ferguson and started in 2006, as part of a Ph.D. programme (Magaly Chambellant), and now also developed into a postdoctoral study (Dr. Sebastian P. Luque). We are also collaborating with Dr. Lily Peacock to investigate relationships between polar bears and ringed seals in Foxe Basin through satellite telemetry. Residents from the communities of Sanikiluaq and Igloolik, NU, including the Hunters and Trappers Association of Nunavut, and the MITIQ Cooperative have provided invaluable assistance. Lucassie and Johnassie Ippak (Sanikiluaq), Solomon Allurut, Apayata Kotier, and Joachim Alaralak (Igloolik) have provided their expertise in the field from the beginning of the project. We are grateful for their support and look forward to strengthening our collaboration with them and developing closer ties with the communities of Sanikiluaq and Igloolik at large. Tara Bortoluzzi (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and Carie Hoover (University of British Columbia) participated during field work in 2008.

Ringed seal movements

Below are animated movements of ringed seals deployed since 2006 in mpeg4 (*.mp4) movie format. Times shown are UTC.

Seal locations have been superficially filtered for erroneous data in the movements, but results from an improved method will be presented as analyses progress.

Notes

The track animations are updated every Monday 09:00 (Central Time).
In the summer of 2008, we deployed 2 bearded seals with PTTs. As with ringed seals, this is very exciting for us, since the movements of neither of these species have been studied in Hudson Bay. See their tracks below.

Announcements

Track animations are currently not being updated due to temporary problems with the animation software. This problem has caused some of the 2009 tracks below to break. Another announcement will be made once the problem has been resolved and the animations redone.

Overview of currently active transmitters

Belcher Islands

Foxe Basin

Transmission summary

Summary of locations received per individual for the last 5 days of available data.

ID	2012-11-09	2012-11-10	2012-11-11	2012-11-12	2012-11-13	2012-11-14
Sum	85	202	252	242	238	139
ARSQ-2012-0012	12	16	11	16	19	10
ARSQ-2012-0007	4	6	7	10	10	4
ARSQ-2012-0011	6	22	28	19	24	14
ARSQ-2012-0016	7	16	23	19	14	11
ARSQ-2012-0005	4	6	13	19	14	9
ARSQ-2012-0010	8	19	21	19	16	12
ARSQ-2012-0013	7	11	25	28	27	12
ARSQ-2012-0006	1	6	3	7	4	6
ARSQ-2012-0014	5	20	22	21	25	6
ARSQ-2012-0008	8	11	21	14	15	9
ARSQ-2012-0009	3	5	7	13	9	9
ARSQ-2012-0015	8	11	16	20	13	7
ARSQ-2012-0003	1	14	15	10	11	9
ARSQ-2012-0002	6	16	16	14	17	13
ARSQ-2012-0004	5	23	24	13	20	8