Scientists discover 13 bowhead whales in northern Sea of Okhotsk

Experts of the Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution (IPEE) named after. The Severtsov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted an expedition in Shelikhov Bay in the northern Sea of Okhotsk to find out if bowhead whales live there. They knew that whale sightings in the area had been recorded before, and the main goal of the expedition was to update and verify these data.

“Experts have been studying the population of bowhead whales in the Sea of Okhotsk for over 20 years. Previously, the main work was carried out off the coast in the Shantar region, where the whales come in the summer. Where they spend the rest of the year is still not exactly clear. Finding new "whale" places in the Sea of Okhotsk is an important step in studying a rare mammal and developing a strategy for its protection. We managed to find such a place - experts found about 13 whales in Shelikhov Bay, ”the IPEE RAS reported on its website.

The six-person research team spent 25 days at sea. During this time, they spent 253 hours of observations, or almost 10.5 days of pure time. The experts covered 4,345 km on a yacht and over 330 km on a motorboat.

The researchers took genetic samples from two of the whales, which will help clarify their sex and identify the individual. Five animals were identified by visual signs and entered into the database, where there are already more than 250 individuals.

“Now the IPEE RAS specialists will have to find out whether the animals encountered in the Shelikhov Bay are related to the summer Shantar herd - this will allow us to learn more about how whales of the Sea of Okhotsk move through the sea,” the institute noted.

Since 2022, the population of bowhead whales from the Sea of Okhotsk has been under the care of the Siberian Wellness World Around You Foundation, which supported the expedition. By the end of the 19th century, the number of these marine mammals was greatly reduced as a result of fishing. Today there are only 300-400 individuals. As scientists note, even now, when whales are not threatened by fishing, they face other threats and are vulnerable to them.