Center for Biological Diversity
October 2008
“The science was clear — and it has been for a very long time,” said marine mammal scientist Craig Matkin of the North Gulf Oceanic Society. “The population is critically endangered. The protections of the Endangered Species Act provide the safety net so that the population can escape extinction and recover.”
On October 17, 2008 the National Marine Fisheries Service announced its
long-awaited decision to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as
"endangered" under the federal Endangered Species Act.
The Cook Inlet beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a genetically
distinct and geographically isolated population whose numbers have plummeted
by more than 50 percent in the past decade. The Cook Inlet beluga
population's status is so perilous that in 2006 the scientific experts at
the World Conservation Union (IUCN) placed the Cook Inlet beluga on its Red
List for critically threatened species. The expert agency charged by
Congress with protecting marine mammals — the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission
— repeatedly requested that the Fisheries Service list the species under the
Endangered Species Act.
“The science was clear — and it has been for a very long time,” said marine
mammal scientist Craig Matkin of the North Gulf Oceanic Society. “The
population is critically endangered. The protections of the Endangered
Species Act provide the safety net so that the population can escape
extinction and recover.”
Conservation groups initially filed a petition to list the population as
endangered under the Endangered Species Act in March 1999. Opposition from
the state of Alaska, local cities and boroughs, and industry groups led the
Fisheries Service to reject the petition. Instead of protecting the
population under the Endangered Species Act, it listed the population as
"depleted" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. At that time, the
Fisheries Service said that the imposition of severe restrictions on Alaska
Native hunting imposed under that Act would lead to the population's
recovery. But while almost no Native hunting has occurred since then,
recovery of the population has not occurred. Recent surveys show that the
Cook Inlet beluga whale’s population now hovers around 375 animals, down
from the Fisheries Service's estimated population of approximately 1,300
whales in the early1990s.
Because the population had not recovered as the Fisheries Service predicted,
in April 2006 conservation groups filed a new Endangered Species Act listing
petition. Once again, the petition was opposed by local cities and boroughs,
industry groups, and the state of Alaska. The Fisheries Service had until
April 2008 to decide whether or not to list the population. However, the
agency extended that deadline for six months (until October 20, 2008) at the
request of the state of Alaska. The Palin administration claimed that 2007
survey data demonstrated an upward increase in the whale’s population trend
and therefore claimed that listing was unwarranted. The Fisheries Service's
recent survey results have demonstrated, however, that there is no upward
population trend.
“Hopefully the listing decision is not too late for the Cook Inlet beluga
whale population's recovery,” said John Schoen, senior scientist of
Audubon-Alaska. “It is unfortunate that the population was not listed in
2000, when the scientific evidence was overwhelming that it should be listed
under the Endangered Species Act.”
Cook Inlet is the most populated and fastest-growing watershed in Alaska,
and thanks to oil and gas dumping, sewage discharges, contaminated runoff,
and regular shipping and pipeline spills, rising pollution levels threaten
the beluga whale and its habitat.
Furthermore, several massive infrastructure projects — including the
proposed Knik Arm Bridge, the Port of Anchorage Expansion, the Chuitna coal
strip mine, and the Port MacKenzie expansion — will directly impact some of
the whale’s most important habitat. Listing the Cook Inlet beluga whale will
ensure that developers and scientists work together to avoid further
population declines.
“This ends the debate about whether the beluga should be protected under the
Endangered Species Act and starts the critically important process of
actually working to recover the species and protect its habitat,” said
Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological
Diversity. “Hopefully the state of Alaska will now work towards protecting
the beluga rather than, as with the polar bear, denying the science and
suing to overturn the listing.”
“Contrary to the rhetoric from opponents to listing in industry and
government, evidence from across the nation shows an Endangered Species Act
designation will not curtail responsible development. Instead, a listing
decision will simply ensure that federal agency actions do not jeopardize
the whales or their habitat,” said Karla Dutton, with Defenders of Wildlife.
Cook Inlet is a unique setting that supports the southernmost of Alaska’s
five beluga populations. Cook Inlet offers a true estuary environment that
is very different from the beluga habitats to the north. According to the
Fisheries Service, no similar habitats exist in Alaska or anywhere else in
the United States.
Those who petitioned to list the whale population under the Endangered
Species Act are: Cook Inletkeeper, Alaska Center for the Environment,
National Audubon Society - Alaska State Office, North Gulf Oceanic Society,
Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC),
Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Kachemak Bay
Conservation Society, Friends of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, and
Sylvia Brunner, PhD. Petitioners are represented by the nonprofit law firm
Trustees for Alaska.
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