Hundreds of narwhals trapped by ice in Arctic

EDMONTON ---As many as 400 tusked whales could be trapped in the ice north of Baffin Island -- far more than originally estimated -- making it one of the biggest strandings ever seen in the Arctic.

The narwhals were spotted last week by Inuit hunters snowmobiling on sea ice in the area. Estimates at the time suggested about 200 whales got trapped after ice moved in or formed quickly, preventing them from reaching open water.

Federal Fisheries and Oceans officials gave the Inuit in Pond Inlet the go-ahead to start killing the whales last week when it appeared nothing short of an icebreaker could save the animals from eventually drowning.

That harvest was supposed to have wrapped up by the weekend. The narwhals, however, keep surfacing, said several people who have been on the scene.

Inuit hunters resumed harvesting the narwhals with guns and harpoons Monday after spending most of Sunday trying to make the breathing holes larger.

The whales are trying to breathe through about 11 holes in the ice, most no bigger than a desk. In the panic to reach the holes, the larger adult whales have accidentally pushed young calves up onto the sea ice on at least two occasions.

"It's not a pretty sight," said Allan Hawkes, the Co-op store manager in Pond Inlet who is selling the whale blubber to other Arctic communities and the ivory tusks to international buyers.
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"The open water is nearly 50 kilometres away and there is no icebreaker in the area," he said, adding that the hunters are in communication with Fisheries officials daily.

"The holes are getting smaller and smaller and there is not much time for them to live. It looks to me like the narwhals have been trapped there for some time, because the ones we are pulling out have only about an inch and a half of fat on them. Normally at this time of year, you would see three inches. That means they haven't eaten for some time."
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This is the third time in three years that whales have been trapped in the Arctic ice.

In the last two years, beluga whales have been trapped in the sea ice near Tuktoyaktuk in the western Arctic.

When 39 whales were trapped two years ago, federal Fisheries officials flew to the scene to evaluate the situation. The department ended up paying hunters to harvest the animals.

Last year, the discovery of 80 stranded whales came too late to do anything but let nature take its course.

It's not certain whether environmental change is confusing the whales or there are simply more people in the Arctic to witness natural occurrence. It could be a combination of both.

"It happens occasionally at Eclipse Sound east of here," said Allooloo. "But no one in Pond Inlet remembers anything like this happening around here in at least 75 years. This is very new to us."