As human activity surges, biodiverse ecosystems become increasingly susceptible to anthropogenically induced collapse: rising carbon emissions are acidifying the oceans, amplifying forest fires, and disrupting seasonal patterns. Even whales, the largest mammals on Earth, cannot escape these vicissitudes (Nicol, et al., 2020). Luckily, research-based wildlife stewardship is making significant advances to conserve whale species by researching, tracking, and managing their populations. There is, however, one thing that this research scarcely includes: Etuaptmumk. Etuaptmumk or “Two-Eyed Seeing”, is a Mi’kmaw framework defined by Elders Dr. Albert Marshall and Murdena Marshall as, “Learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing, and to use both these eyes together, for the benefit of all” (Bartlett, Marshall M. and Marshall A., 2012).

The implementation of Two-Eyed Seeing in the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management’s Bowhead Research Program in Alaska demonstrates the extent to which this framework is crucial to wildlife biology and conservation. The program, ongoing since 1981, aims to study the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort bowhead whale population, formerly decimated by commercial whaling between 1848 and 1915 (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2022). Fortunately, because of collaboration between international organizations, Indigenous hunters, non-governmental organizations, and national governments, the population is recovering and now comprises an estimated 17,000 individuals (Givens, et al., 2016). Etuaptmumk was integrated into various parts of the study, including the study of olfaction and brain size in the bowhead whale. Based on traditional ecological knowledge, scientists determined that bowhead whales have olfactory bulbs making up 0.13% of their brain weight, and olfactory receptor genes that are 51% intact (Figure 1) (Thewissen, et al., 2011). This means that bowhead whales may have a sense of smell that allows them to locate the krill aggregations upon which they feed. With the collected data, scientists can better understand and address the impacts of human activity and airborne smells on bowhead whale populations (Thewissen, et al., 2011). One such impact is the effects of ocean acidification on whale sensory systems, possibly resulting in the impairment of bowhead whale olfaction (Ashur, Johnston and Dixson, 2017).

This groundbreaking research was only realizable because of Two-Eyed Seeing’s integrative nature and more precisely, the involvement of Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission whale hunters in the project. Early studies of odontocetes (toothed whales) suggested that whales possessed no sense of smell as there were no found olfactory structures (Kishida, et al., 2015). Scientists believed that this also applied to baleen whales, until they incorporated Etuaptmumk into their research. Inupiuat whalers have long known that bowhead whales – a species of baleen whale – could smell, because they were sensitive to smoke and odours. The whalers rely on several traditional generational practices while whaling, such as avoiding burns on ice, because this drove whales away from their camps. The whalers have since shared their knowledge with researchers, encouraging them to study bowhead whale olfaction (Langlois, 2018). Indigenous knowledge has sustained societies for hundreds of thousands of years as it is “built and adapted over long periods of time,” and encourages the development of co-existence with natural ecosystems (Figure 2) (Ogar, Pecl and Mustonen, 2020). Intertwining generational, experiential traditional knowledge and modern scientific research methods greatly increases the potential to develop innovative solutions for species conservation.

After examining the efficacy of Etuaptmumk in the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management’s Bowhead Research Program, it remains clear that modern science will only advance if it relies on the integration of diverse cultural scientific knowledge systems. The involvement of Indigenous whale hunters in the research program proved to be a turning point in the study on bowhead whale olfaction. As ecosystems continue to collapse under the environmental consequences of climate change, acknowledgement of the multitude of Indigenous knowledge systems remains key to innovative solutions and socio-scientific collaboration.

References

Ashur, M.M., Johnston, N.K. and Dixson, D.L., 2017. Impacts of ocean acidification on sensory function in marine organisms. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 57(1), p.63–80. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icx010.

Bartlett, C., Marshall, M. and Marshall, A., 2012. Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together Indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies and Science, 2, p.331-340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8.

Bull, G., 2017. Utqiaġvik whale hunters. [photograph] Available at: <https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/what-native-alaskan-hunters-taught-scientists-about-whales/533577/> [Accessed 16 September 2023].

Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 2022. Report on the Progress of Management Plan Implementation for the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort population of Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) in Canada for the Period 2014 to 2019. [pdf] Ottawa: Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Available at: <https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/report-progress-recovery-document/bowhead-whale-bering-chukchi-beaufort-2022.html> [Accessed on 10 September 2023].

Givens, G. H., Edmondson, S. L., George, J. C., Suydam, R., Charif, R. A., Rahaman, A., Hawthorne, D., Tudor, B., DeLong, R. A., and Clark, C. W., 2016. Horvitz–Thompson whale abundance estimation adjusting for uncertain recapture, temporal availability variation, and intermittent effort. Environmetrics, 27(3), p.134-146. https://doi.org/10.1002/env.2379.

Jessen, T. D., Ban, N. C., Claxton, N. X., and Darimont, C. T., 2021. Contributions of Indigenous Knowledge to ecological and evolutionary understanding. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 20(2), p. 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2435.

Kishida, T., Thewissen, J., Hayakawa, T., Imai, H., Agata, K., 2015. Aquatic adaptation and the evolution of smell and taste in whales. Zoological Letters, 1(9), p. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40851-014-0002-z.

Langlois K., 2018. When Whales and Humans Talk. [online] Available at: <https://hakaimagazine.com/features/when-whales-and-humans-talk/> [Accessed 14 September 2023].

Nicol C., Bejder L., Green L., Johnson C., Keeling L., Noren D., Van der Hoop J., and Simmonds M.,2020. Anthropogenic threats to wild cetacean welfare and a tool to inform policy in this area. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7(57), p. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00057.

Ogar E., Pecl G., Mustonen T., 2020. Science must embrace traditional and Indigenous knowledge to solve our biodiversity crisis. One Earth, 3(2), p. 162-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.07.006.

Thewissen, J.G.M., George, J., Rosa, C. and Kishida, T., 2011. Olfaction and brain size in the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus). Marine Mammal Science, 27(2), p.282-294. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00406.x.