Changes in Sea Ice and Range Expansion of Sperm Whales in the Pond Inlet Region of Baffin Bay, Canada

Sperm whales are a cosmopolitan species only found in ice-free regions. Understanding the distribution of sperm whales in regions undergoing rapid loss of sea ice and ocean warming is important. In 2014 and 2018, sperm whales were sighted in the Pond Inlet, Baffin Bay: the first recorded uses of this region. We investigated sperm whale distribution near the Pond Inlet using visual sighting and passive acoustic data from two recording sites between 2015 and 2019. We found no records of sperm whale sightings near Pond Inlet outside of the 2014/2018 observations. However, the acoustic data revealed whale presence yearly from 2015-2019 in the late summer and fall months. Sperm whale presence increased over the 5-year study duration and was closely related to sea ice extent. Monitoring climate change-induced range expansion of sperm whales is important to understand how increasing presence of a top-predator might impact the Arctic food web.