Declining foraging returns from an inexhaustible resource? Abundance indices and beluga whaling in the western Canadian Arctic

The East Channel of the Mackenzie River supported two of the most populous groups of hunter-gatherers in the Canadian Arctic. These groups, the Kuukpangmiut and Kittegaryumiut, specialized in hunting beluga whales, which aggregate in large numbers in the East Channel during the summer months. Beluga abundance indices (AIs) calculated for a chronological sequence of sites spanning the period ca. 1200–1600 AD indicate that the relative frequencies of beluga whale bones may have fluctuated drastically. A suite of options are considered to explain these indicated shifts in foraging efficiency, including: (1) issues surrounding the calculation of AI values in instances where the encounter rates of less highly ranked taxa are changing; (2) aspects of beluga whale behaviour, demographics, and distribution, including adaptations to environmental change and human predation; and (3) issues relating to the social, demographic, economic, and territorial organization of the Inuit groups occupying the East Channel.