Applied research collects data needed to ensure food security for Indigenous subsistence hunters in the United States and Canada. In 2025, NOAA and the Alaska North Slope Borough successfully completed a survey to count bowhead and beluga whales in the U.S. and Canadian Beaufort Seas and Amundsen Gulf. This international, multi-agency, multi-species project was the result of 3 […]
In the icy waters of Alaska’s Bristol Bay, a new study reveals how a small population of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) survive the long haul through a surprising strategy: they mate with multiple partners over several years. The combination of long-term genetics, observation and careful analysis is starting to reveal some of the most intimate […]
Beluga whales are highly social and vocal marine mammals. They use acoustics to navigate, find prey, avoid predators and maintain group cohesion. For Alaska’s critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga population, these crucial communications may compete with a cacophony of noise from human activities. New research from the University of Washington, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Alaska Fisheries […]
During the early morning hours on Sunday wildlife troopers were alerted to an aircraft crash by the Rescue Coordination Center. RCC told troopers that they had responded to the Beluga Lake area for an ELT activation to find an aircraft flipped on its roof. The aircraft, a Piper PA-18, was located flipped upside down on […]