A team of experts left Severo-Kurilsk on a yacht and headed to the northwest of the Sea of Okhotsk in the Shelikhov Bay area. The specialists will study the summer habitats and possible wintering grounds of bowhead whales.
Studying habitats and monitoring are the main tasks of the expedition. The vessel will move along the coast, carefully examining all the bays and inlets along its way. The fact is that to date, there are isolated and scattered results of studies of bowhead whales of the Sea of Okhotsk in this water area. In 2021-2023, scientists conducted expeditions in the bays of the Shantar region, where the key summer habitats of whales known today are located. Based on the results, recommendations were prepared to minimize anthropogenic impact on animals. Last year, for the first time in many years, data was collected on whales in the Shelikhov Bay area. In order to develop and implement effective measures to protect the species, it is necessary to obtain complete data on the condition of animals in these areas.
Another important task for scientists will be taking biopsy samples from marine mammals. Genetic analysis will help to understand the whales' "registration" - whether scientists have encountered them before, this is how isolated the Shelikhov Bay group is. Taking a piece of skin from whales (biopsy) is carried out by certified specialists using a special crossbow and is safe for the animal.
The expedition participants plan to assess the whales' food supply in this area. To do this, they will use a plankton net to collect samples of invertebrates, which will be delivered to Moscow for further analysis.
The expedition will end in mid-August in Magadan. The data will then be analyzed.
The project to preserve bowhead whales in the Sea of Okhotsk is being implemented by the Nature and People Foundation in partnership with the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Siberian Wellness Company Foundation “The World Around You”, the company JSC “UTLC ERA” and the Ilya Trukhanov Clinic “KIT”.
About the Okhotsk Sea population of bowhead whales
The Okhotsk Sea bowhead whales occupy the southernmost part of the range of this species. Their entire life cycle takes place in Russian waters. Predatory whaling in the 19th century almost completely exterminated this population; in the mid-20th century, they were considered extinct for a decade. Today, their numbers do not exceed 400 individuals. The Okhotsk Sea population of bowhead whales is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, where it is assigned the highest priority of urgency and priority of environmental measures taken and planned for being implemented. The bowhead whale is one of the focus species of the federal project "Conservation of biological diversity and development of ecological tourism" of the national project "Ecology".
The population of bowhead whales in the Sea of Okhotsk is declining and is under threat of extinction. Due to climate change and the shortening of the ice season, whales in the summer mainly go to the shallow bays of the coldest Shantar region in the western part of the Sea of Okhotsk, while a small number also enter Shelikhov Bay in the northeast. Here they are protected from killer whales, but in shallow waters they face a potentially even more serious threat - the economic activity, the intensity of which is constantly growing.