Decline of Beluga Whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska

In conjunction with the Cook Inlet PhotoID Project and federal agencies, the USGS Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is aiming to learn more about the fundamental factors that drive changes in beluga whale population dynamics, specifically what affects the rates at which individuals survive and reproduce. Understanding this piece of the puzzle is critical to future conservation and recovery efforts and will help determine the viability and resilience of this population to the persistent human activities and ongoing climatic changes occurring in the region. However, this iconic whale has not made unraveling this mystery easy.

This work will improve our understanding of this endangered whale and will provide an important foundation for future studies exploring the viability of this culturally important and ecologically unique population in the face of ongoing and anticipated climatic changes.