northeast migration of bowhead whales along the northwest 

 coast of Alaska (Chukchi Sea) occurred in the nearshore lead. 

 No bowheads were seen nearshore in the Beaufort Sea. 



From Figures 12 and 13 it is apparent that white whales were 

 more widely distributed in the Chukchi Sea than bowheads. 

 They were observed to the northerly limits of most aerial sur- 

 veys offshore to approximately 60 km, indicating that they 

 penetrate the pack ice even farther north than bowheads. 

 White whales were also common in the nearshore lead. 



i liM i lil il i l i l ih l i li h li lili lili Mil i M ili 



72 



- 70 



68 



Figure 12. — Aerial survey tracklines flown in the eastern Chukchi and Beaufort 

 Seas on 30 April and 1,3.8, 9, 12, and 14 May 1976. Dots represent presence of 

 white whales: a total of 485 whales were counted with a mean group size of 3.9 



<SD5.5). 



7977 



Aerial surveys flown from 1 1 to 14 May 1977 (Fig. 14) in the 

 southeastern Chukchi and eastern Bering Seas revealed no 

 bowhead whales. It was not expected that bowheads would be 

 observed in the area surveyed from Norton Sound south. 



A herd of white whales was encountered on the 11-14 May 

 survey in Kotzebue Sound (Fig. 14). Six adult white whales 

 were observed in Norton Sound; eight, including one imma- 

 ture, were observed south of Norton Sound. The trackline 

 leading south from Norton Sound followed near the fast ice 

 edge to Nunivak Island. No white whales were observed in 

 the open water south of Nunivak Island. 



The hypothesis we proposed, that spring migrating white 

 whales use leads offshore in the Beaufort Sea (Braham and 

 Krogman footnote 2), is further substantiated when white 

 whales were observed as far as 150 km north of Point Barrow 

 but not nearshore along the north coast of Alaska in the 

 Beaufort Sea (Fig. 15). The fact that no bowheads were seen 

 is probably a reflection of fewer animals present nearing the 

 end of their spring migration (Fig. 3). 



164 



158 



152 



166 



160 



Figure 13. — Aerial survey tracklines flown in the eastern Chukchi and western 

 Beaufort Seas 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 28, and 31 May 1976. Dots represent presence of 

 white whales: a total of 289 whales were counted with a mean group size of 6.0 



(SD7.4). 



Figure 14. — Aerial survey tracklines flown in the eastern 

 Bering and southeastern Chukchi Seas on 11, 12, and 14 

 May 1977. No bowhead whales were seen. Dots repre- 

 sent presence of white whales: a total of 272 whales were 

 counted with a mean group size of 4.5 (SD 7.6). 



12 



