738 



Fishery Bulletin 98(4) 



The angle of view from the horizontal was measured 

 with Suunto inclinometers. Records were made with time- 

 coding tape recorders and were transcribed daily. Ground 

 speeds were calculated from the elapsed time on the 

 transect and sighting positions were interpolated along 

 transects. The state of the sea was assessed and recorded 

 by using the Beaufort Scale of wind force; sui-vey plans 

 included not flying in conditions over Beaufort 4 (i.e. over 

 10 knots or 5.14 m/s). 



The coastline of the eastern Hudson Bay arc was sur- 

 veyed once, on 21 August, in a flat-windowed "Twin Otter" 

 aircraft flying at 500-1000 ft (152-305 m). The observers, 

 two to seven in number depending on the survey segment, 

 were members of local hunters' and trappers' associa- 

 tions; they sat behind the pilots and recorded observations 

 directly onto sighting maps. The flight line from Kuujj- 

 uaraapik followed the mainland coastline northbound to 

 Inukjuak. The southbound leg was flown on the offshore 



side of the chains of islands close to the coast, and the 

 plane made a detour to sui"vey Richmond Gulf It flew as 

 far south as the Vauquelin River before returning to end 

 at Kuujjuaraapik (Fig. 2). 



The Ungava Bay surveys used strip-transect methods. 

 A "Twin Otter" aircraft was flown at an altitude of 1500 

 feet (457 m). The transect survey used a systematic design 

 with a strip width of 600 m on each side of the aircraft, 

 but sightings were so few that all were recorded, on- or 

 off-effort and on- or off-transect. Ferry flights to the start 

 of and from the end of each day's transect pattern fol- 

 lowed the coastline, detouring to search the largest bays 

 and estuaries. The entire coast was covered in this way, 

 some stretches several times. 



Observations made from land at estuaries frequented by 

 beluga whales in summer were a supplementary source of 

 information from which it was possible to assess the prob- 

 ability that large estuarine concentrations had been inef- 

 ficiently estimated by transect sample 

 sui-vey. Local observers manned camps 

 at the Little Whale River and at the 

 Nastapoca River in eastern Hudson Bay 

 in 1993,' and in southern Ungava Bay in 

 1992- and 1993^ (Fig. 3). From vantage 

 points, the estuary areas were scanned 

 regularly for beluga whales. The estuar- 

 ies of the Little Whale and Nastapoca 

 rivers are less than 1 km long, and easily 

 covered, but the Whale River estuary 

 in southern Ungava Bay could not be 

 completely covered. The objective was 

 to scan five times a day, at three-hour 

 inten'als; but weather sometimes inter- 

 fered with this schedule. Not only num- 

 bers, age class, and behavior of beluga 

 whales were noted, but also boat and 

 air traffic, visibility, wind, weather, and 

 tide. 



Line-transect methods were used to 

 analyze the data from James and Hudson 

 Bays. Such methods involved fitting to 

 the sighting data a sighting probability 

 cui-ve g(x), i.e. the probability that an 

 animal group at distance .v from the 



83 



81 



79 



77 



75 W 



Figure 2 



Systematic design for aerial transect sui-vey of beluga whales in Jame.-^ 

 Bay and eastern Hudson Bay, August 199.3. 



' Doidge, D, W. 1994. Land-based obsei-va- 

 tion of beluga whales at the Little Whale 

 and Nastapoka rivers, eastern Hudson Bay, 

 summer 1993. Report prepared bv Makivik 

 Corp., C.P. 179, Kuujjuaq, P.Q. JOM ICO 

 Canada. 30 p. 



- Makivik Corp. 1993. Land-based obser- 

 vations of belugas in Ungava Bay, summer 

 1992. Report prepared bv Makivik Corp., 

 C.P. 179. Kuujjuaq. RQ. JOM ICO Canada. 

 7 p. 



' Doidge, D.W.. and A. H. Gordon. 1994. 

 Land-based obsei-vations of beluga at Tuu- 

 tutuup Nuvunga, southern Ungava Bay. 

 summer 1993. Report prepared bv Makivik 

 Corp., C.P 179, Kuujjuaq. RQ. JOM ICO 

 Canada. 13 p. 



