The Cumberland Sound beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) population inhabits Cumberland Sound on the southeast side of Baffin Island, Nunavut. The population is listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act. The last abundance estimate from an aerial survey was estimated at 1,381 (95% CI: 1,270-1,502) beluga whales in 2017 for an area covering 12,485 km2. Since then, satellite imagery has been used as a remotely based non-invasive method to monitor these whales. Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery covering 9,690 km² of water was collected from Cumberland Sound from August 30 to September 7, 2021, during the ice free season. Readers with previous imagery analysis experience analyzed the images and identified 704 certain detections. Abundance estimates were corrected for availability bias for whales that were too deep to be detected in the imagery (>2m). We present a total estimate of 1,690 (CV = 0.16; 95% CI: 1,241-2,301) beluga whales in Cumberland Sound (22,663 km2). This estimate covers a larger area and estimates a higher abundance than the 2017 aerial survey. Regular population abundance assessments are essential for understanding population dynamics and trends and we have shown here that satellite imagery is a comparable method to aerial surveys for estimating abundance.

中文翻译：

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使用卫星图像估算 2021 年坎伯兰湾白鲸 (Delphinapterus leucas) 的数量


坎伯兰海峡白鲸 (Delphinapterus leucas) 种群栖息在努勒维特巴芬岛东南侧的坎伯兰海峡。根据《濒危物种法》，该种群被列为受威胁物种。 2017 年，航空调查的最新丰度估计为 1,381 头（95% CI：1,270-1,502）头白鲸，覆盖面积为 12,485 平方公里。从那时起，卫星图像就被用作远程非侵入性方法来监测这些鲸鱼。覆盖 9,690 平方公里水域的甚高分辨率 (VHR) 卫星图像是在 2021 年 8 月 30 日至 9 月 7 日无冰季节期间从坎伯兰湾收集的。具有图像分析经验的读者分析图像并识别出某些检测结果（第704章）由于鲸鱼太深而无法在图像中检测到，因此对丰度估计值进行了纠正（>2m）。我们估计坎伯兰海峡（22,663 平方公里）共有 1,690 头白鲸（CV = 0.16；95% CI：1,241-2,301）头。与 2017 年航空调查相比，这一估计涵盖了更大的区域，并且估计了更高的丰度。定期进行人口丰度评估对于了解人口动态和趋势至关重要，我们在此表明​​，卫星图像是一种与航空调查相当的估计丰度的方法。