STATUS OF THE NORTHERN BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE, HYPEROODON AMPULLATUS

The Northern Bottlenose Whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, is a deep-diving, medium-sized teuthophage endemic in the North Atlantic Ocean. Its known distribution is centered in areas with cord, deep water along and seaward of the edge of the continental shelf. Migratory movements are poorly documented, as are stock relations among the animals found in apparently disjunct centers of spring and summer abundance. In the western North Atlantic, Bottlenose Whales are present during much of the year in The Gully near Sable Island (Nova Scotia) and in the Labrador Sea. Northern Bottlenose Whales were hunted mainly by British and Norwegian whalers during the second half of the nineteenth century and by Norwegian and Canadian whalers during the twentieth century. Although population size has been assessed in only relatively small parts of its total range, the Northern Bottlenose Whale remains widely distributed and locally abundant in some areas. It has been protected from commercial whaling since 1977 and is no longer hunted regularly on a large scale anywhere in its range. It is unlikely that the populations of this species have recovered fully from the effects of past commercial exploitation, but the species does not appear to be threatened or endangered at present. The Bottlenose Whales in The Gully appear to be non-migratory, and this population of a few hundred whales might be vulnerable to the environmental degradation associated with nearby oil and gas production.