Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 16

Acknowledgements

The following people and organizations provided input during the preparation of this report: V. Lesage, J.F. Gosselin, R. Bailey, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Mont-Joli, Quebec; H. Cleator, S. Cosens, P. Richard, J. Orr, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba; L. Harwood, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Yellowknife, NT; P. Simon, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Iqaluit; NU. P. Béland and R. Michaud GREMM provided valuable input on the St. Lawrence beluga. R. Reeves and A.R. Martin, International Whaling Commission, helped with information on various other world populations of belugas, M.C.S. Kingsley Greenland Fisheries Institute, provided valuable criticism of the manuscript. S. Olpinsky, D.W. Doidge, Makivik Corporation, provided ATK information on Northern Quebec belugas. B. Bell and B. Day, Fisheries Joint Management Committee, Inuvik, NT, helped with discussions of ATK on Beaufort Sea populations. M. Wheatley, Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, Iqaluit, NU, M. Fleming, Sanikiluaq, NT, helped with ATK sources on the Baffin Island and High Arctic populations. R. Boles and G. Goulet of the COSEWIC staff provided advice and guidance on the production of the report. Cecilia Lougheed, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa, aided greatly with the production of the maps and calculation of the areas of distribution. Special thanks B. de March, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, for her valuable input on questions of genetic differentiation of the different populations, and M. Hammill, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Maurice Lamontagne Institute, Mont-Joli, for his review of the document.

The interim report was revised based on comments from the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Susan Cosens, Michael Kingsley, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee, and the Cumberland Sound Beluga Recovery Team.

Funding for the preparation of this status report was provided by the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada.


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