2019 Beluga Mortality Report

“Mortality figures for 2019 are hardly reassuring,” comments Robert Michaud, scientific director for the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals. In 2019, 17 St. Lawrence beluga carcasses were found, including one in Nova Scotia, which is outside the species’ usual range. In 2018, 12 carcasses were discovered, vs. 22 in 2017 and 14 in 2016. With 17 carcasses, we find ourselves within the average range observed over the past few years.

Once again, it is not the number of carcasses that so much worries researchers, but rather the type of mortality and the high proportion of females among the recorded mortalities that are cause for concern. Stéphane Lair, professor at Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, points out that “five of the six adult belugas examined at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for post-mortem examinations were females, which suggests that for adults, females show a higher mortality rate than males once again this year (assuming the sample is representative of total mortalities).”