Optælling af narhvaler I Sydøstgrønland I 2022; samarbejde mellem Pinngortaleriffik og narhvalfangere i Østgrønland. Technical Report No. 131

Greenland is a member of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, NAMMCO, which 
advises the Greenlandic government on the sustainable hunting of narwhals in East Greenland. 
Due to various risks, e.g. over exploitation, narwhal populations that spend the summer in 
Greenland's waters are considered the most vulnerable populations among narwhals in the world 
by organizations including NAMMCO, the scientific working group under JCNB (Canada-Greenland 
Joint Commission on Beluga and Narwhal) and IUCN (The International Union for Conservation of 
Nature). The scientific working group for narwhals under NAMMCO has since 2019 recommended 
an immediate stop to hunt for all narwhal populations in East Greenland. In 2021, the Greenland 
parliament (Inatsisartut) asked the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR) to carry out a 
survey of narwhals in Southeast Greenland that would cover the three administrative areas of 
Tasiilaq, Kangerlussuaq and Scoresby Sound. GINR was instructed that the results should be able 
to be used by the Scientific Committee of NAMMCO to advise on the sustainable harvest of 
narwhals and incorporate the knowledge of local hunters. As agreed between hunters and 
scientists, data on the distribution and number of narwhals was collected using a systematic aerial 
survey, so that observations of narwhals were used in mathematical models about population 
growth