Indigenous communities and subsistence whale hunting

Indigenous communities and subsistence whale hunting

Author: PNAS November 4, 2024 Duration: 10:30

Indigenous hunting and beluga populations

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Max Friesen, Eline Lorenzen, and Mikkel Skovrind explore beluga population dynamics in relation to subsistence hunting by Indigenous communities in northern Canada.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:01] Archaeologist Max Friesen talks about the role of belugas in Inuvialuit culture.
•[01:45] Evolutionary biologist Eline Lorenzen talks about the background of the study.
•[02:26] Naturalist Mikkel Skovrind explains the methods of the study, including the sources of beluga samples and the methods of analysis.
•[03:58] Skovrind introduces the results of the study, including the changing ratio of males to females harvested.
•[06:07] Lorenzen describes the finding that genetic diversity of belugas had not declined over time.
•[06:59] Friesen and Lorenzen talk about what the study reveals, and suggests, about past hunting methods.
•[08:09] The authors explain the caveats and limitations of the study.
•[09:05] Skovrind and Friesen explore the implications of the study for traditional subsistence hunting practices.
•[10:19] Conclusion

About Our Guests:

Max Friesen
Professor
University of Toronto

Eline Lorenzen
Professor
University of Copenhagen

Mikkel Skovrind
Postdoctoral researcher
Lund University

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2405993121

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Tune into PNAS Science Sessions for a direct line to the people shaping modern science. Produced by PNAS, this podcast offers more than just summaries of published research; it’s where you hear the candid, often personal stories behind the headlines. Each episode features concise conversations with the researchers themselves-from emerging voices to established Academy members-alongside the policymakers whose decisions are informed by this work. You’ll get a genuine sense of the questions that drive these experts, the unexpected hurdles they face in their labs and field studies, and why their findings matter right now. The scope is deliberately wide, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of science itself, covering discoveries that range from microscopic processes to planetary-scale phenomena. This isn't about dry lectures, but about capturing the human endeavor of investigation. For anyone curious about how science actually unfolds and wants to understand the context of breakthroughs as they happen, this podcast serves as an essential, engaging resource. It connects the dots between a published paper in a prestigious journal and the real-world implications that ripple out from it.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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