Whales
The Bowhead whale the Narwhal, and the Beluga are all inhabitence of the north west passage.
The Bowhead whale:
You can find the the bowhead whale swimming along the edge of the sea ice of the north west passage. Named Alaska's state marine animal in 1983, this magical animals existance is scarce only having an estimate of eight thousand left today.
Migration:
Although there are few left, these massive creatures enjoy their time as they take a three thousand six hundred mile migration rought evey year. Spending the winter in the Bering sea in Polynas (which is an area of packed with ice). In late march and april they make their way north throught the Bering straight following the packed ice, than through the Chukchi sea along the coast past barrow point where they are hunted by the Inuit tribe (are limited to catching fifty per year). By mid may/june they arrive at their destination of beaufort sea in Canadian territory, and when the summer ends they go back and do the same thing all over again the next year.The Bowheads are slow swimmers and often swim near shore, recieving the nick names of the Northern right whale and the Green land right whale.
Beluga Whales
The beluga whale is a mighty and fickle beast. These lightly colored whales, sometimes known as "Sea Canaries", for their jovial singing, whitch can be heard by the human ear. It is also known as the "White Whale" due to its bright white skin. Sometimes belugas travel with Narwhals or bowheads.
An average fully grown beluga will eat roughly 50 pounds a day of fish, squid, Octopi, Crustaceans, and worms. This whale is also both Benthic and Pelgic, meaning its both a bottom feeder,and an oceanic eater in shallow water.
The heavyest recorded beluga was 3,300 pounds. There is no dorsal fin, as it would be a hazard on the dangerous sea ice, and this is the reason they have rounded fins.
(http://www.dogonews.com/files/Image/Beluga.jpg)
Narwhals
Narwhals are easy to indentify from other whales because of their long tooth that sticks straight out from their head and resembles a horn. They are a bluish grey color with white spots all over their body. They usually grow to be from seven to ten feet long and can live up to fourty years.
All in all
However the number of Narwhals is decreasing in the wild due to a number of reasons.The Inuit people are allowed to hunt about fiffty whales per year, but they use their whale resources responsibally. They put every peice of the whale to good use as food or other nessicary items. Global warming also plays a factor in their scarce ice existance limiting the food supply and affecting their migration routes.
Another cause for whale deaths is that the whales become trapped in the sea ice. Unfortunatly this is becoming a increseingly common occurence. Large pods of whales will surface for air in a break in the ice, but they will be unable to swim the long disctance to the next breathing hole. Most of the whales will eventually drown because there are simply too many whales competing for air in a very tiny space.
A event like this happened a few years ago when a huge pod of Narwhals became trapped in one of these ice holes. The Canidain government could have easily used their icebreakers to free the desperate whales, but instead they simply allowed the slaughter of 500 Narwhals. The whales were shot, with no attempt at all to save their lives. This is so wrong because people have the means to save the whales lives, but they decide to do nothing. This is why Canada and other countries should set up whale protection and rescue plans, so they can help protect these vital animals.
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