Pan-Arctic Tracking of Beluga Whales (PATOB)

PATOB research was presented to all communities in Nunavik during community consultations completed during the spring of 2007, as well as the Anguvigaq Hunters, Fishers and Trappers Association general meeting in Umiujaq, and in 2008 in Tasiujaq, the annual general meeting of the Nunavik elders sponsored by Avitaq Cultural Institute in Kangiqsujuaq, and an IPY conference to present several IPY projects held in Kuujjuaq. At the consultations, the Inuit requested that we undertake our telemetry studies in James Bay, an area where there are a large number of animals, but also where we know very little about their stock relationships with Hudson Bay beluga, their movement and diving behaviour and overwintering areas. Furthermore, James Bay is also responsible for approximately 70% of the total freshwater inflow into the Hudson Bay region, so changes in physical environmental conditions in this area will have wide reaching impacts on Hudson Bay and freshwater inflow into the Northwest Atlantic.