Editing Labrador Sea (section)

==Fauna==
The northern and western parts of the Labrador Sea are covered in ice between December and June. This [[drift ice]] serves as a breeding ground for several types of [[Pinniped|pinnipeds]] (including [[Walrus|Atlantic walrus]] and [[Bearded seal|bearded]], [[Grey seal|grey]], [[Harbor seal|harbor]], [[Harp seal|harp]], [[Hooded seal|hooded]] and [[Ringed seal|ringed seals]]). Several [[Cetacea|cetacean]] species feed in these abundant waters in early spring, including [[Blue whale|blue]], [[Fin whale|fin]], [[Humpback whale|humpback]], [[Long-finned pilot whale|long-finned pilot]], [[Minke whale|minke]], [[North Atlantic right whale|North Atlantic right]], [[Sei whale|sei]] and [[Sperm whale|sperm whales]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=25 October 2024 |title=Observations • iNaturalist |url=https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=60.37774399999999&nelng=-52.61936619999999&subview=map&swlat=46.6109839&swlng=-67.8216853&taxon_id=152871&view=species }}</ref> The sea contains one of the two primary populations of sei whales, the other being the [[Scotian Shelf]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Anthony Bertram Dickinson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDMG4kPdcn4C&pg=PA16 |title=Twentieth-century shore-station whaling in Newfoundland and Labrador |author2=Chesley W. Sanger |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |year=2005 |isbn=0-7735-2881-4 |pages=16–17}}</ref> Pods of [[Beluga whales|beluga]] (white) whales are more common further to the north, west and south (notably in [[Baffin Bay]], where their population reaches around 20,000 animals), and further afield in [[Hudson Bay]] and the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence|Gulf of Saint Lawrence]]. While somewhat rarer in the Labrador Sea—especially since the 1950s—<ref>[http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/CW69-14-170-2004E.pdf COSEWIC Assessment and Update Status Report on the Beluga Whale]. Dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca (2012-07-31). Retrieved on 2013-03-20.</ref> some sightings still take place.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 October 2024 |title=Observations • iNaturalist |url=https://inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=41461 }}</ref> Additionally, pods of [[orca]] are drawn to the sea by the large shoals of fish, as well as the many marine mammal species they may hunt (including other cetaceans and pinnipeds), such as [[harbour porpoise]] and [[Atlantic white-sided dolphin|Atlantic white-sided]], [[Common dolphin|common]], [[Striped dolphin|striped]] and [[White-beaked dolphin|white-beaked dolphins]].<ref name=":0" />

The sea is also a feeding-ground for [[Atlantic salmon]]. [[shrimp fishery|Shrimp fisheries]] began in 1978, intensifying by 2000, in addition to [[cod]] fishing. However, by the [[1990s]], the [[Cod fishing in Newfoundland|cod fishing]] had already depleted the fishes' population near the Labrador and West Greenland banks, and was therefore halted in 1992.<ref name="can" /> Other fishery targets include [[haddock]], [[Atlantic herring]], [[lobster]], several species of [[flatfish]], and [[pelagic fish]], such as [[sand lance]] and [[capelin]]. They are most abundant in the southern parts of the sea.<ref>{{cite book|pages=6–7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTcrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6|title=Maritime services to support polar resource development|author=National Research Council (U.S.)|year=1981}}</ref>

[[File:Labrador Tea flower.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Close up of a [[Labrador tea]] flower]]
The [[Labrador duck]] was a common bird on the Canadian coast until the 19th century, but is now extinct.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ducher, William |year=1894|title=The Labrador Duck – another specimen, with additional data respecting extant specimens|journal=Auk|volume=11|issue=1|pages=4–12|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v011n01/p0004-p0012.pdf|doi=10.2307/4067622|jstor=4067622}}</ref> Other coastal animals include the [[Labrador wolf]] (''Canis lupus labradorius''),<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/1374306|title=The Wolves of North America|jstor=1374306|author=E. A. Goldman|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|volume=18|issue=1 |year=1937|pages=37–45}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic39-2-145.pdf|journal=Arctic|volume=39|issue=2|year=1986|pages=145–149|title=Characteristics of the Wolf (Canis lupus lubrudorius Goldman) in Northern Quebec and Labrador|author1=G.R. Parker|author2=S. Luttich|doi=10.14430/arctic2062|access-date=2010-09-02|archive-date=2020-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701110614/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic39-2-145.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Migratory woodland caribou|woodland caribou]] (''Rangifer tarandus caribou''), [[moose]] (''Alces alces''), [[American black bear|black bear]] (''Ursus americanus''), [[Canada lynx]] (''Lynx canadensis''), [[red fox]] (''Vulpes vulpes''), [[Arctic fox]] (''Alopex lagopus''), [[wolverine]] (''G. gulo''), [[American mink]] (''Neogale vison''), [[North American river otter]] (''Lontra canadensis''), [[snowshoe hare]] (''Lepus americanus''), [[grouse]] (''Dendragapus'' spp.), [[osprey]] (''Pandion haliaetus''), [[Common raven|raven]] (''Corvus corax''), [[Duck|ducks]], [[Goose|geese]], [[Swan|swans]], [[partridge]] and [[Common pheasant|pheasant]].<ref>{{cite book|pages=9–11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwo4J063Q50C&pg=PA9|title=The Moravians in Labrador|year=2006|isbn=1-4068-0512-2|author1=Anonymous| publisher=Echo Library }}</ref><ref name=f>{{WWF ecoregion|name=Eastern Canadian Shield taiga|id=na0606}}</ref> Occasionally, coastal [[polar bear]] (''Ursus maritimus'') sightings occur along the sea, mainly further north but sometimes as far south as [[Conception Bay]] and the mouth of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 October 2024 |title=Observations • iNaturalist |url=https://inaturalist.org/observations?subview=map&taxon_id=41644 }}</ref>