Winter Sightings of Marine Mammals in Arctic Pack Ice

There is limited information about the winter distribution of some arctic marine mammals. In February-March 1976 six species of marine mammals were sighted in the pack ice of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait. Hooded seals were sighted along the ice edge in February, but in late March adults with pups were seen. Large numbers of narwhals were sighted throughout southern Baffii Bay in a variety of ice conditions, which suggests that this species winters in the pack ice. Belugas, bowhead whales, walrus and ringed seals were occasionally sighted in the pack ice. from the bridge of the Northwind and from the ship's helicopters during a 29-day period in winter pack ice. The position of animals sighted was back calculated based on the ship's log entries at the time of the sightings . To interpret the location of sightings from the helicopter, 1 used TACAN (Tactical Air Navigation) read- ings of the range and bearing of the helicopter relative to the ship. These were converted to latitude-longitude positions using the ship's log entries. For each sighting, the species, number of animals, age (adults vs. Young), sex (when possible) and ice features (concentration, thickness, forms, topography , stages of development and types of openings) were logged by the observer. The ship's records provided information on weather and ice conditions at 6-hour intervals during the in-ice portion of the cruise. Population density estimates could not be made because data were collected during ice reconnaissance flights and the cruise track was not systematic.