Scientists hope the new tool will help identify data gaps and the combination of factors that may be impacting the endangered whale population’s recovery. A key challenge for recovering endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales is understanding how the interplay between prey availability and human activities affect the health of individual animals and the overall population. […]
Community science along the shores of Cook Inlet. It Takes a Village The Alaska Beluga Monitoring Program is run by NOAA Fisheries in collaboration with several organizations. It offers opportunities for volunteer citizen scientists to bolster monitoring efforts for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population. The volunteers collect important data on beluga distribution and […]
Soldotna-based troopers were alerted to a fatality 10 miles north of Beluga on Monday morning and traveled to the location via Helo-3 AST report. Troopers initiated their response at 11:50 am on Monday after receiving the report of a death at the vehicle/equipment staging area north of Beluga. When arriving at the scene an investigation […]
New information may help with recovery efforts for endangered Cook Inlet belugas. When listening to beluga whales, the sound of a crunch or a clapped jaw may be a reliable indication that a beluga whale just successfully captured or missed a fish. In a new published paper on beluga whales in Alaska, scientists analyzed sound data, collected […]