Infographic: whale population and marine ecosystem biodiversity

An infographic showing simplified marine mammals' ecosystem and the impacts on this ecosystem of climate change, shipping and environmental change. The infographic also shows connection between the marine environment and Indigenous food security and a way of life.

In the upper left corner of the infographic there is an image of the sun and a thermometer beside it symbolizing rising temperature in the Arctic. Beside there is a text "climate change". Underneath there is an image of a breaking ice floe with a seal on top and text "receding ice" and "habitat loss". Beside there is an image of a Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker crushing the ice with a text above "ice breaking". The icebreaking creates a noise and there is an image of sound waves dispersing through water. On the right of the image of the icebreaker there is an image of a cargo ship with a text box above with a word "shipping". Arrows, originating from above the ship go under the surface of water and onto the surface of ice floe symbolizing interconnectivity of shipping, icebreaking, and climate change and their impacts on the marine mammals' habitat. On a blue surface symbolizing the depths of the ocean and underneath the cargo ship there is an image of half circles symbolizing sound waves emitted by the ship, underneath there are images of marine mammals including narwhal and two whales, beluga and fish species. The images of sound waves beside the marine mammals symbolize the sound waves emitted by whales to echolocate the fish and communicate. The text beside those images reads "difficult echolocation" and "difficult communication and displacement". The text and the soundwaves emitted by the cargo ship symbolize the impacts of shipping on marine mammals and their habitat. On the far right beneath the cargo ship there is an image of a whale and a warning triangle, beneath the whale there is a text which reads "direct strikes". The image and the text symbolize the impacts of shipping through collisions with mammals on the marine environment.

In the centre of the infographic there is a bubble with an image of a whale, beluga, seal and narwhal symbolizing Arctic marine mammals. The arrows which originate from the text and images on the rest of the infographic point towards the bubble which symbolize various interconnected impacts of climate change, environmental change and human activities on marine mammals.

On the right of the infographic and the bubble with the image of marine mammals there is an image of a trawler pulling a fishing net with a text capture" competition for prey". The textbox above the trawler reads "fisheries". Underneath the trawler there is an image of a whale with a fishing net around its body with text capture "entanglement". On the left of the infographic there is an image of a clock and a calendar with a capture "changing timing of migration/breeding". Underneath, there are bubbles with text CO2 and pH and capture "ocean acidification". The text and images symbolize higher levels of acidity and carbon dioxide levels in the ocean and there impacts on fish and their food as the next image is of fish and plankton with a capture "reduced forage opportunities and changing to prey base". Underneath there is an image of a killer whale and salmon and capture "new species and diseases". On the right a text PCBs, DDTs, and Hg with a capture "contaminant" symbolizes water contamination. An image of shredded plastics with a text "microplastics" symbolizes pollution.

An arrow originating from the centre bubble with the image of marine mammals points downward onto an image of an ice floe. Above the ice floe, there are three text boxes with captures "species expanding north", "population health and body condition" and "traditional co-management of harvest for sustainability". On the icefloe there are images of an Inuit hunter and youth after a successful hunt for a seal where the hunter passed knowledge how to hunt to a next generation. On the right of the hunters there are images of Inuit woman carrying a child in a traditional amauti. Behind the woman the images of elderly and children as well as workers and snowmobilers and Inuit cabin and dogs around the fish drying rack symbolize traditional Inuit village. The text underneath the images reads" Indigenous food security and way of life". An arrow originating from the ice floe points towards the bubble with images of marine mammals symbolizing interconnectivity between marine mammals and Indigenous food security and well-being.