An international team of researchers analyzed beluga whale bones retrieved from archaeological sites in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada, to shed light on the sustainability of centuries of Inuvialuit beluga whale subsistence harvests.

‘Since Inuvialuit ancestors arrived in the Mackenzie Delta around 800 years ago, beluga whales have been central to their livelihood and culture,’ said archaeologist and co-senior author Professor Max Friesen from University of Toronto.

‘However, little is known of the impact of centuries of sustained subsistence harvests on the beluga population’.

Integrating paleogenomics, genetic simulations, and stable isotope analysis of 45 zooarchaeological beluga remains, and comparing the findings with contemporary data from tissue samples provided by Inuvialuit hunters from their beluga subsistence hunts, the team characterised the effect of 700 years of subsistence harvests on beluga genetic diversity, population structuring, and foraging ecology.