Chapter II — Species of Special Concern 



In light of the planned oil and gas development in 

 the Okhotsk Sea, the IWC Scientific Committee has 

 recommended that high priority be given to research 

 and environmental monitoring programs concerning 

 this population of gray whales. Without such pro- 

 grams, it will not be possible to develop a mitigation 

 plan to reduce the effects of oil and gas development 

 on these whales. A long-term joint U.S. -Russian 

 research and monitoring program of these gray whales 

 was initiated in 1997 by Sakhalin Energy Investment 

 Company and Exxon Neftegas. 



Cook Inlet Beluga Whale 

 (Delphinapterus leucas) 



Beluga whales are found seasonally in ice-covered 

 waters throughout the Arctic and sub-Arctic. During 

 winter, beluga whales migrate offshore, where they 

 are closely associated with open leads and polynyas in 

 the pack ice. In spring, they move into warmer 

 coastal areas to molt and calve. For management 

 purposes, five stocks are recognized in U.S. waters. 

 This distinction is based on the species' discontinuous 

 summer distribution and on mitochondrial DNA 

 analyses that indicate clear genetic differences among 

 stocks in the summering areas. The five stocks are 

 the Cook Inlet, Bristol Bay, eastern Bering Sea, 

 eastern Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea stocks. 



The Cook Inlet stock has been the subject of 

 particular concern for several reasons. Separated 

 from the other four summer concentration areas by 

 the Alaska Peninsula and nearly 1,000 miles (1,610 

 km) by sea, the Cook Inlet stock is the most isolated 

 population of beluga whales in U.S. waters. Because 

 of their proximity to Anchorage, beluga whales in 

 Cook Inlet are exposed to the largest urban coastal 

 area in Alaska. They also have been subject to 

 intensive harvesting by Alaska Natives. 



Since 1994 the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 has carried out aerial surveys of beluga whales in 

 Cook Inlet every June or July to help assess the 

 stock's distribution and abundance. An analysis of 

 beluga whale sightings in Cook Inlet indicates that the 

 stock's summer range has contracted in recent years. 



In contrast to the 1970s and 1980s, animals now are 

 rarely seen in offshore waters or the lower reaches of 

 the inlet. During mid-summer, most of these beluga 

 whales now concentrate in a few groups in the upper 

 reaches of the inlet around river mouths and disburse 

 as winter approaches. 



The draft 1998 stock assessment report on Cook 

 Inlet beluga whales prepared by the Service estimated 

 a population size of 834 whales, including calves, 

 with a minimum population estimate of 712 animals. 

 Based on these estimates, the draft assessment calcu- 

 lated the potential biological removal level for this 

 population at 14 animals per year, utilizing a recovery 

 factor of 1.0. The potential biological removal is the 

 maximum number of animals, not including natural 

 mortalities, that may be removed from a marine 

 mammal stock while providing reasonable assurance 

 that the stock will recover to or remain within its 

 optimum sustainable population level. 



The Alaska Regional Scientific Review Group is a 

 scientific committee appointed by the Service that, 

 among other things, provides scientific advice on the 

 status of Alaska marine mammal stocks. At its 

 meeting of 18-20 November 1998 the group consid- 

 ered new information on the population status of the 

 Cook Inlet beluga whale stock. Reanalysis by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service of survey data from 

 1994 through 1998 incorporating video analysis of 

 surfacing behavior indicate a decline in the Cook Inlet 

 population from an estimated 653 individuals in 1994 

 to 347 in 1998, or about a 47 percent reduction in 

 numbers. Based on these analyses, the group recom- 

 mended that the Service use the 1998 population size 

 point estimate of 347 animals and a recovery factor of 

 0.5 when calculating the potential biological removal 

 level for the 1999 Cook Inlet beluga whale stock 

 assessment. These changes would result in a substan- 

 tial decrease in the estimated number of beluga that 

 could safely be removed from the stock, from 14 to 

 about 3 animals annually. 



Native Subsistence Harvest 



Provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 allow Alaska Natives to take marine mammals for 

 subsistence or handicraft purposes provided the take 



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