Genetic Test of Chukchi Circuit Hypothesis Based on Dirichlet Distribution and Whaling Management Based on People's Need

Abstract

Bowhead whales is an endangered species but they are still hunted by Inuits. How to protect the endangered species and at the same time fulfill people’s need is an important topic in economics. Resource economics and Welfare economics are two branches of economics and both of them give some answer. However, economic efficiency may not be preferred because it doesn’t lead to society welfare in realities. Considering the bowhead whale problem, a simulation was done in this paper to find the catch limit which can fulfill the Inuits’ need and meanwhile, protect the whale from extinction. It is very important to make clear the structure of the stock to protect the biodiversity of the species. Chukchi Circuit hypothesis was put forward and Jorde. et. al (2004) found the “Oslo bump” of the pair-wise microsatellite differences in data from whales landed during the autumn migration at Barrow. The simulation of BCB whale migration hypothesis based on Dirichlet distribution has never been made before and will be done in this paper. 54 samples landed at Barrow in Autumn were studied, with genetic measurement on 11 loci. The results show that to get a neat bump, very extreme parameter will be required.