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Cook Inletkeeper Watershed Watch

 The Cook Inlet Beluga Whale

 Take Action Now to Protect this Cook Inlet Icon

Thank YOU!

On August 3, 2008, the National Marine Fisheries Service officially closed the public comment period on whether to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Inletkeeper was lead petitioner in April 2005 when Trustees for Alaska filed legal papers requesting NMFS to list the beluga under the ESA.  NMFS held public hearings in Homer, Anchorage, Soldotna and Silver Spring, MD in July 2007, and the public testimony strongly supported listing the beluga. Additionally, Inletkeeper and its state and national allies helped generate over 150,000 comments to NMFS in support of listing! Not surprisingly, the State of Alaska, local municipalities and extractive industries vigorously opposed extra protections for the beluga whale.  You can read comments submitted by NRDC and the Center for Biological Diversity on behalf of Inletkeeper and others here, and you can read Governor Palin's press release and the State of Alaska's comments here.  NMFS now has 12 months to list the beluga under the ESA, and Inletkeeper will continue to fight short-sighted projects that threaten important beluga whale habitat.

THE PROBLEM:     The Cook Inlet beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated population whose numbers have plummeted over 50% in the past decade.  The beluga’s plight is so dire the National Marine Fisheries Service recently proposed an “endangered” listing for the whale under the Endangered Species Act.  While subsistence hunting has been blamed as a primary cause for the whale’s decline, tight controls on subsistence harvests have not resulted in the population rebound agency scientists predicted.  Sewage discharges, oil and gas wastes, polluted run-off, shipping traffic, noise, and habitat loss are but a few of the possible issues affecting beluga recovery.  In 2006, the experts at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) put the Cook Inlet beluga on the “red list” for critically endangered species.  Current surveys suggest only 250-350 whales remain in Cook Inlet (from historical highs around 1300 animals).  One major stranding event or oil spill could spell the end for this Cook Inlet icon. Large corporations and local politicians are fighting the listing process, so it’s up to YOU to ensure our kids can enjoy the Cook Inlet belugas for years to come.

For more information, see:

April 19, 2007 Conservation Group Press Release

Proposed Beluga Whale Endangered Rule

NMFS Press Release

BACKGROUND:  The Cook Inlet beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated population whose numbers have plummeted over 50% in the past decade.  Today, federal agency scientists estimate fewer than 280 belugas remain in Cook Inlet – down from historical estimates of 1300.  The whale’s plight is so dire the World Conservation Union in April 2006 added the Cook Inlet beluga to its “Red List, ” classifying it as “critically endangered.”  There is only one category after critically endangered:  “extinct.” The Cook Inlet beluga is already listed as “threatened” under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).  Now, in light of continuing population declines, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has opened pubic comment on a “status review,” to determine whether the Cook Inlet beluga should be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Scientists at the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission – the federal agency mandated by Congress to oversee NMFS and to protect the nation’s marine mammal resources – have repeatedly called on NMFS to list the beluga under the ESA.  Such a listing will require NMFS to designate and protect critical habitat for the beluga, and offers the best hope this Cook Inlet icon will endure for generations to come.

Threats to the Cook Inlet beluga whale:  Cook Inlet is the most populated and fastest growing watershed in Alaska.  The state’s largest city – Anchorage – lies adjacent to some of the most important beluga habitat in the region.  Polluted run-off from rain and snowmelt, combined with large sewage discharges, pour directly into prime beluga feeding, mating and birthing habitats.  Cook Inlet is also the birthplace of commercial oil and gas development in Alaska, and underwater seismic blasting, toxic dumping from offshore platforms, and regular leaks and spills threaten the whales and their habitat.  The U.S. Army also retains a presence in Cook Inlet, and its bombing range at Eagle River Flats on Fort Richardson regularly showers toxic and other pollutants into areas that support belugas and their prey.  Cook Inlet is also a major shipping hub and fishing center, and ship traffic, noise, port dredging and prey disturbance may also be affecting belugas. 

 In addition to existing development, a series of proposals raises serious concerns about the future for beluga whales in Cook Inlet.  For example, the Port of Anchorage plans to fill over 135 acres of beluga habitat as part of a major expansion project, and proposed dredging associated with the expansion will impacts hundreds of additional acres.  Another proposed addition to the Port is the Department of Homeland Security’s “Integrated Anti-Swimmer Device” – a complex sonar array designed to thwart waterborne attacks on the Port.  Sonar is well-known to cause problems with whale “echolocation,” but information on IAS impacts to belugas has not yet been determined.  Furthermore, the Chuitna Coal Project, lying southwest of Anchorage, is slated to begin permitting this summer, and if developed, would add another major industrial port in an area important to belugas.  Finally, plans continue to progress for the Knik Arm Crossing, a new bridge and fill project that would bisect some of the most important beluga habitat in the entire Inlet, just outside of Anchorage.

 Aside from aerial surveys and limited tissue sampling, there has been no concerted effort to understand even the most basic behaviors of the Cook Inlet beluga, let alone any serious attempts to understand the individual and cumulative effects from industrial activities.  Cook Inlet boasts the highest tidal range in the United States, and one or more mass strandings on the region’s shifting shoals could be enough to push the beluga over the brink to extinction.

 Background on the Cook Inlet beluga whale:  Alaska Native traditional knowledge tells of beluga subsistence hunts for the past several hundred years in Cook Inlet, and early homesteaders are known to have hunted for food, sport and whale bones.  In the early-to-mid 1990’s, unregulated subsistence hunting (permitted for Native Alaskans under federal and international law) led to high mortality within the Cook Inlet beluga stock.  In 1999, Congress passed legislation making it illegal for anyone to “take” a Cook Inlet beluga whale unless such harvest occurred under a cooperative management agreement between Native Alaska hunters and the National Marine Fisheries Service.  Subsequent co-management agreements sharply curtailed subsistence hunting, and NMFS biologists predicted the Cook Inlet beluga population would rebound to sustainable levels.  In 2000, NMFS refused to list the whale under the Endangered Species Act, and instead chose the less rigorous protections afforded by a “depleted” listing under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).  Five years after the MMPA listing – in March 2005 - NMFS finally published the draft Conservation Plan required by the MMPA, and as of May 2006, the final plan had yet to be released.  In April 2006, with the latest surveys estimating only 278 whales remaining, NMFS opened public comment on a status review, to determine whether the Cook Inlet beluga whale should be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

 INLETKEEPER’S SOLUTIONS 

Inletkeeper is pressing state and federal resource managers to designate critical habitat for the beluga whale under the Endangered Species Act, so areas where whales feed, mate and birth can be protected.  In the meantime, Inletkeeper is educating the public and the media about the plight of this Cook Inlet icon, and challenging short sighted proposals that pollute or destroy important beluga habitat.  Contact Inletkeeper for more information.

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 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & LINKS (links open in new window)

National Marine Fisheries Service: Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Overview

National Marine Mammal Laboratory Satellite Tracking Data

Alaska Fisheries Science Center

AFSC Beluga Whale Fact Sheet

U.S. Marine Mammal Commission

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Cetacea.org 

World Conservation Union “Red List” of Endangered Species

Anchorage’s Endangered White Whales

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