PCBs released from the 102nd Street Site into the Niagara River migrated downstream to the St. Lawrence River and estuary where a population of endangered Beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, resides. PCBs were transported both through particulate transport, and in American eel that migrate out of Lake Ontario with high PCB body burdens. The eel are eaten by beluga as they migrate through the St. Lawrence Estuary. High concentrations of PCBs have been measured in the tissues of beluga whale carcasses for the past twenty years and are suspected to be an important factor limiting the growth of the population since hunting was banned several decades ago. The St. Lawrence beluga population is increasing in size at too slow a rate to measure and is listed as Endangered. The occurrence of healthy beluga whales in U.S. Atlantic coast waters is contingent upon the health and reproductive success of the St. Lawrence beluga population. As the Federal trustee agency mandated to ensure the protection of marine mammals in U.S. waters, NOAA is applying settlement funds, recovered for beluga whale restoration, to complement the St. Lawrence Beluga Recovery Plan, which was developed to help in the recovery of this unique and protected species.

Selected Project: Social Structure and Use of Habitat of St. Lawrence Beluga: A long-term study based on photographic individual identification and molecular sexing.

Beluga whales form social groups segregated by age and gender. While current knowledge is biased toward male beluga, the less studied female beluga and their calves have stronger site fidelity and their ability to thrive greatly impacts the growth of the whole population. The goal of this project is to identify, evaluate, and map the critical habitats used by this sensitive segment of the beluga population, which will aid in the protection of those environments, and thereby, help the population recover faster. The site restoration funds administered by NOAA are extending a long-term project that includes photo-identification of individual beluga; biopsy sampling to determine the sex, inform matrilineal lineages, and determine contaminant concentrations in superficial blubber of living beluga; reproductive history (age at first reproduction, calving intervals); social structure and behavioral relationships; and the location, distribution, frequency, and types of habitats used. The vulnerability of identified critical habitats to human activities will be assessed so that protections that consider the timing and type of use by beluga can be implemented. The final report to NOAA will include georeferenced locations of critical beluga habitats and specific recommendations about furthering the knowledge about these habitats, as well as any specific projects or activities linked to those habitats.