Bowhead whales are the longest-lived mammals on Earth. Climate change, shipping noise, and entanglement threaten their welfare in rapidly changing Arctic seas.
Bowhead whale welfare in the warming Arctic faces new threats alongside historic ones. Ship strikes — increasingly common as Arctic shipping routes open — cause traumatic injury and death. Entanglement in fishing gear causes prolonged suffering in animals whose strength allows them to swim with gear attached for weeks before exhaustion and infection kill them. Chronic noise from shipping and seismic surveys disrupts acoustic communication essential for feeding, navigation, and reproduction. Protecting bowhead welfare means regulating Arctic shipping speeds in whale habitat, requiring seismic survey mitigation, and supporting ongoing monitoring of this remarkable long-lived species whose individuals have survived centuries of change.