In Search of the Elusive Bowhead...

Well, I’m just coming off a fabulous weekend into my eighth week in Iqaluit, and less than five weeks until my trip to Calgary where I get to spend a week with my lovely husband… life is good.

I’ve been fishing quite a bit lately, with little success, but it is so beautiful down by the river that I don’t begrudge the fish. The consequences of losing the battle are far worse for them than they are for me! The other night I was in a t-shirt at 9:00 pm, the water was calm, and the scene tranquil. Fishing unsuccessfully though is well worth it if it inspires me to spend a couple of hours in such conditions. The water is so clean and clear that all I want to do is dive in! But if I did that would be one move that I would likely be lucky to survive and regret! It probably isn’t much above freezing.

Late in the week we got word at the office that there was a bowhead whale dragging a fishing net near the town of Pangnirtung, a community about 45 minutes away by plane nestled on the banks of a deep fiord off Cumberland Sound. The bowhead whale is a northern baleen whale closely related to the right whale. It is rooted deeply within Inuit culture and is the only baleen whale to reside year round in the Canadian waters of the High Arctic. The Inuit have a long history have hunting bowhead whales, but due to a few centuries of commercial hunts beginning in the 1500s, their populations were low and as a result they have been listed as Special Concern by COSEWIC (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). Their populations have been steadily increasing though, and so there are hunts allowed for three communities for a single whale each year.

So back to the whale in the net. Reports were that it was a small whale entangled in a char net. The community spotted the whale at the mouth to Pangnirtung Fiord and again within a nearby Fiord. We had a meeting with the local DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) office to discuss the situation. They decided to charter a small plane to survey the area around the last sighting and I was invited to join them!

On Saturday morning I got up bright and early and headed down to the airport and boarded an eight-seater prop plane. The flight to Cumberland Sound over the tundra spotted with lakes was nice enough, but when we reached the Sound 45 minutes later, that was when my breath was really taken away. It was an absolutely beautiful, clear morning and the water of the Sound (which is a huge area) was like glass, not a white cap in sight. There was a light haze in the air which gave the scenery a dream-like quality and the colors of the sky that were reflecting off the water were so warm and pleasant, it was truly lovely. It would have been the perfect scene for my first sighting of orcas in the north. There was a pod of 20 killer whales spotted in the Sound within days of our flight, and I had my fingers crossed to get a glimpse of them, but alas, they were nowhere to be seen.

First we had to pass over the Sound and touch down in Pangnirtung to pick up a few people. The town of Pangnirtung is located on the east side of a deep fiord that cuts into the mountains ending at Auyuittuq National Park, which is famous for the ten day Pangnirtung Pass trek, which I have aspirations of doing next summer. You fly straight into the fiord, pass the town and then make a sharp 180 turn to come back to and land in the town on a dirt runway. This landing was even dicier than the one in Qikiqtarjuaq, probably because of the smaller plane. I held my breath for most of it, but as always, it was fine. The people sitting next to me who have flown the north for some time didn't even bat an eye.

Once back in the air we circled over the surrounding fiords in search of the whale for two hours. In some areas the water was so green that it almost had a tropical feel. Despite the fact that we never did find the whale, the flight itself of spectacular. All I can do is hope that the whale was able to shake off the net and return to the sea. To be truthful, if we had spotted the whale it was likely that the town would have been granted an emergency licence to harvest it, rather than DFO coming in and trying to free it. It is really dangerous to attempt a rescue and for a population that is harvested it wouldn’t be worth the risk.

Iqaluit from the air...

It's hard to tell where the sky ends and the water begins... or where the Earth ends and heaven begins... what movie is that from? I'm thinking Forrest Gump.

Pangnirtung Pass at the head of the fiord.

Small planes make for bumpy landings on dirt runways...

No whales, but icebergs are a nice substitute...