NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
June 22, 2000
Carol Tocco, Public Affairs NMFS
(907) 586-7032
LISTING UNDER MMPA WILL PROVIDE PROTECTION FOR BELUGA WHALES NOAA Fisheries Determines ESA Listing is Not Necessary
After careful and thorough analysis, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that listing the population of beluga whales located in Cook Inlet, Alaska, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted. Although this population of whales has declined in recent years, several steps have been taken to protect the whales and allow for recovery of the population.
"Based on the data obtained from a status survey of the beluga whale population completed in 1998, and a thorough review of human-related activities in Cook Inlet, we are confident that we have identified the source of the decline, which is over-harvesting," said Jim Balsiger, Alaska Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. "This impact can be managed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Therefore, listing under the Endangered Species Act is not necessary at this time."
Unregulated harvesting was halted in 1999 by legislation that prohibited the taking of Cook Inlet beluga whales until October of 2000, unless provided for within a cooperative agreement between NOAA Fisheries and affected Alaska Native organizations. Additionally, in May of this year the agency listed the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This listing gives NOAA Fisheries the ability to regulate the harvest, even after the legislation expires. The agency believes that the Native harvest of whales is responsible for the observed level of decline, and halting that harvest is an effective measure to provide immediate protection for these whales. NOAA Fisheries will continue to work with the Alaska Native organizations in the future management of that population.
The Cook Inlet population has declined from 653 whales in 1994 to 347 in 1998, and increased to 357 in 1999. Harvesting levels averaged more than 70 whales per year from 1994-98. The population would be considered healthy at a level of 780 whales, and Cook Inlet is estimated to historically have a total carrying capacity of 1,300 for beluga whales.
Further information about beluga whales can be found at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/beluga.htm.
NOAA Fisheries is an agency of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency conducts scientific research and provides services and products to support fisheries management, fisheries development, protected species and habitat conservation programs, trade and industry assistance, and enforcement.