Bowhead whales are among the longest-lived animals on Earth, adapted to Arctic ice, but now facing rapidly changing conditions due to climate change and expanding shipping routes.
Bowhead whales are culturally important to Inuit and Yupik peoples who have hunted them sustainably for thousands of years. The welfare of individual bowheads killed in subsistence hunts is a concern due to the logistical challenges of instant killing of such large animals in remote sea ice conditions. Increasing noise pollution from shipping traffic expanding into newly ice-free Arctic waters affects echolocation and communication. Entanglement in fishing gear set further north is an emerging threat. Oil and gas exploration activities create acoustic disturbance. Rising ocean temperatures are shifting prey distributions that bowheads depend on.