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March 2014

Vol. 19, No. 9 Week of March 02, 2014

The puzzle of the Cook Inlet belugas

NMFS biologist says population has not recovered as expected after cessation of subsistence harvesting of whales several years ago

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

The National Marine Fisheries Service has viewed the overharvesting of Cook Inlet beluga whales as the prime reason for a sharp decline in the whale’s population between 1994 and 1998, a decline that ultimately led to the listing of the whales as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2008, Barbara Mahoney, a biologist with the Fisheries Service, told a meeting of the Alaska Association of Environmental Professionals on Feb. 19.

No rebound

In response to the population decline, harvest regulations were put in place in 1999. But despite a subsequent major drop in hunting of the whales, with hunting ceasing entirely after 2005, the whale population has not rebounded, Mahoney said. The Fisheries Service’s whale population model indicated that, once the threat to the whales had been removed, there should have been an immediate increase in the population. But that has not happened, thus leaving the agency with something of a puzzle in explaining the multi-year population trend, she said.

Some population models do predict a more delayed recovery in the population, but after 12 years of reduced whale harvest and about seven years of no harvest, the population remains low, she said.

The listing of the beluga whales and an associated designation of whale critical habitat has caused considerable concern to those promoting commercial development, including oil and gas development, in the Cook Inlet region. People worry that protections for the whales may impede development activities without necessarily improving the whales’ well-being. And some have questioned whether, with tight restrictions now in place on hunting of the whales, the whales are truly endangered.

Consultation required

Under the terms of the Endangered Species Act any activity impacting Cook Inlet and involving the federal government, through federal permitting requirements, for example, requires a consultation with the Fisheries Service over potential impacts on the belugas. Mahoney said that the Fisheries Service has been engaged in beluga whale consultations relating to a number of Cook Inlet activities, including seismic surveying and pipeline construction.

Mahoney explained that the de-listing of the whales would require both the removal of the threat that the whales face and clear evidence of a population recovery. While the perceived threat of over-harvesting has been removed, there is still a significant question mark over the precise nature of threats that the whales face. And, although evidence of recovery does not depend on the population reaching some pre-ordained number of animals, there does need to be a clear population recovery, a recovery that has yet to be demonstrated, Mahoney said.

10-year trend

For 2012, the last year for which the Fisheries Service has published the results of its annual aerial surveys of the beluga whale population, the agency reported an estimated population of 312, a 10 percent increase from the estimate for 2011. However, given the inherent uncertainties in the population count, the agency said that the increase in the count was not scientifically significant and that the overall 10-year population trend showed an annual decline rate of 0.6 percent. The counts over that 10 year period ranged between 278 and 375 animals.

Mahoney said that the Fisheries Service is organizing a conference in Anchorage on April 5 at which scientists will present the latest results from beluga whale research.






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