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Alaska's Cook Inlet Beluga Whale

Rare Cetacean Sings the Blues

Scientific name: Delphinapterus leucas

Beluga whales swim the cold arctic waters of Russia, Greenland, and North America. Much smaller than many of their whale cousins (they average 14 feet long and 3,000 pounds), they are the only whales that can bend their necks for better maneuverability. They feed on a wide variety of prey including young salmon. Of the five distinct populations in Alaska (see map below), conservation efforts focus on the smallest and southernmost group, those living in Cook Inlet. Separated from the others by the Alaskan Peninsula, the Cook Inlet belugas have become genetically distinct over time.

A Population in Freefall

The first population estimate for the Cook Inlet beluga (in 1979) was just 1,300; the number fell to 650 by 1994. Then, between 1994 and 1998, the number of belugas plummeted another fifty percent, to just 347 individuals. In response, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) designated them "depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1997.

Scientists believe that the initial decline in numbers during the 1960s and 1970s was due to hunting from commercial outfitters and harvesting by Native Alaskans (permitted under US and international law) with harvest rates remaining at similar levels during the mid-1990s. But cooperative efforts by Native peoples and government agencies alike to reduce the number of whales harvested since 1999 did not help the population rebound, indicating that other significant factors are causing the continued drop.

These distinctive creamy-white whales captivate tourists and other whale watchers with their unusual color, gregarious behavior, and bird-like chirps and whistles. But their songs are harder to hear these days as the treasured Alaskan icons become increasingly scarce. These whales play a key role in the Cook Inlet ecosystem, and are valuable indicators of overall ecosystem health; their decline tells us that Cook Inlet is in trouble.

At the Hands of Humans

The Cook Inlet beluga whales live in Alaska's most populated and developed area. While natural factors like strandings, predation, and parasites could be causing some deaths, scientists are also looking at a variety of human-caused threats including coastal development, oil and gas activity, noise, bycatch in commercial fishing nets, and pollution, as well as competition with fishermen for food and collisions with ships. Another vulnerability of small populations is the looming threat of climate change. We need to ensure that the Cook Inlet belugas have a chance to adapt to large-scale shifts in their natural ecosystem brought on by climate change; we can help belugas be more resilient by minimizing the impacts of threats like pollution and development.

We need more research to better understand the threats to belugas but we can't wait to put better protections in place. Scientists predict that there is a good chance that Cook Inlet belugas could go extinct over the next 300 years. Because they are a small population, Cook Inlet belugas are at greater risk of extinction if catastrophic events such as oil spills, failed fish runs, or disease occur.

What Ocean Conservancy Is Doing to Help

Mounting evidence has shown that the beluga whales in Cook Inlet need protection, and Ocean Conservancy has helped to show there is broad public support for the federal government to pay attention to this critical situation. In October of 2008, the government listed the Cook Inlet belugas as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, acknowledging that they are in danger of going extinct. This means that oil and gas exploration, the construction of a new bridge, and other development funded with federal dollars can go forward only with proof that these activities will cause no harm to the whales.

Two of Ocean Conservancy's top priorities are global climate change and protection of the fragile Arctic. The effects of climate change are already impacting Alaska, and with species like the beluga facing extinction, we must act immediately to help other marine life. That includes not only reducing our own carbon footprint, but also ensuring that we slow down industrial development in the Arctic. Belugas are signaling that something is amiss in the Cook Inlet ecosystem, and we need to listen to their call for help.

Likewise, the other four groups of beluga whales, which live in Bristol Bay, the eastern Bering Sea, the eastern Chukchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea, could be threatened by increasing human activities in their Arctic waters. Oil and gas development, for example, would bring not only an increased risk of toxic spills, but a drastic increase in noise, which greatly affects whales.

Ocean Conservancy will be monitoring development plans in those areas and advocating that agencies and corporate interests slow down and make solid, science-based decisions that won't adversely affect Arctic species like the beluga and the ecosystems theyand we—need to be healthy and thrive.

Tagging a beluga whale in Cook Inlet near Anchorage. Credit: NOAA Fisheries National Marine Mammal Laboratory.

What You Can Do to Help

• Join Ocean Conservancy's online community to learn more and stay up-to-date on ocean issues, including the fight for Beluga whales.
• Fight global climate change: Find ways to reduce fossil fuel use in your daily life.
• Let legislators know we must protect not just individual species like the beluga whale, but the entire Arctic ecosystem.

 

 

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The Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup and Ocean Action Network are registered trademarks of Ocean Conservancy.

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The Ocean Conservancy, International Coastal Cleanup and Ocean Action Network are registered trademarks of Ocean Conservancy.

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