{"id":51061,"date":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/avec-les-belugas-semaine-du-21-septembre-2015\/"},"modified":"2020-05-21T19:36:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T19:36:33","slug":"with-the-belugas-week-of-september-21-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/with-the-belugas-week-of-september-21-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"With the Belugas: Week of September 21, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mission accomplished!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s the third and last week of the intensive biopsy program for St. Lawrence belugas. Our goal is to obtain 50 biopsies in each of the three years of the project. We begin the week with 28 biopsies in hand! It’s a tall order!<\/p>\n

September 25, 2015: As of the morning of the last day in the field, we have already managed 51 biopsies! The week has been very productive. Just as we’ve done every morning for the past three weeks, we get up early and head out to sea to locate belugas. The more samples we obtain, the higher the likelihood that our results will be representative of the population. Today, we head upstream, into the Upper Estuary. A first contact is made near \u00cele aux Fraises, a second one at \u00cele aux Li\u00e8vres and to finish the grand tour, a final one off of \u00cele Blanche off the Charlevoix coasts. Fantastic conditions \u2013 but especially the fact that the entire team that has been becoming increasingly adept at sampling \u2013 allow us to take an additional seven biopsies. It’s our best season since the program was launched in 2013. A great deal of laboratory work now awaits us. To be continued!<\/p>\n