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Findings in a new Defenders of Wildlife study published in Frontiers in Marine Science, show that threats like pollution and prey limitations are preventing recovery of whale species that are closely related to Cook Inlet beluga whales. Research shows that these threats are likely contributing to the continued decline of this species.
“This research provides a better understanding of why the population of Cook Inlet belugas continues to decline,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, director of Defenders of Wildlife’s Alaska program. “The five-year anniversary of the recovery plan recently passed, with no signs of recovery in sight, and Defenders is hopeful that this is the wake-up call managers need to realize it is time for bold action if we are to save this species.”
Recognizing we only have a few years to make meaningful change, Defenders of Wildlife and Dr. Stephanie Norman, Ph.D, a veterinary pathologist, conducted research that documents how known information and research about other endangered, closely related whale species can be used as “research surrogates,” to “fill in information gaps” and support beluga conservation and management.
This research shows that these threats when reviewed against surrogate species need to be elevated and better mitigated for Cook Inlet belugas. Currently, in the Cook Inlet beluga recovery plan, released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, prey availability is ranked as a threat of medium concern and contaminants is ranked as low concern.
Based on the research findings, Defenders recommends the re-evaluation of threat levels, pursuing analysis of noise impacts to habitat, conducting an assessment of cumulative authorized takes, and implementing an adaptive management approach.
Belugas throughout Alaska and the Arctic have been a subsistence resource for coastal Tribes for thousands of years and still play a significant cultural role. Cook Inlet belugas are highly regarded as sentinels for the Tubughna people (meaning “people of the beach”) of the Native Village of Tyonek.
“Defenders of Wildlife has been fighting for the recovery of Cook Inlet beluga whales for years. We and our partners petitioned to get the Cook Inlet beluga whale listed as an endangered species in 2007. It is past time management agencies take a bold approach for the recovery of this iconic species,” said Whittington-Evans.
Opening paragraph of the actual study – The genetically and geographically isolated Cook Inlet beluga whale (CIB) was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2008 and a federal recovery plan was adopted in 2016. Despite these measures, the population has failed to make demonstrable progress toward recovery. Data and knowledge gaps exist, as well as high uncertainty in the recovery plan, regarding the impact and severity of identified threats on CIB health and recovery, particularly for threats driven by anthropogenic factors, and cumulative effects. These data deficiencies may hinder threat prioritization and conservation and management actions. Odontocete populations in similarly ecologically precarious situations may serve as research surrogates to help fill information gaps and guide future CIB research and conservation. Through a systematic review of CIB and selected surrogate species [St. Lawrence beluga (SLB), Hector’s dolphins (HD), and southern resident killer whales (SRKW)], we identify gaps associated with threats described and ranked in the CIB recovery plan. All threats identified by the National Marine Fisheries Services as “high”-concern to CIB recovery, except noise, are lower in publication volume compared to publications related to high concern threats in SLB and SRKW. “Medium” or “low” threats to CIB, such as prey reduction and contaminants, respectively, are identified as higher priority threats in surrogate populations. These topics have been more heavily researched for surrogates and suggests that synthesis of this work may help reduce uncertainty, to aid in informing management actions for CIB. Specifically, publishing volume suggests SLB and SRKW are valuable surrogates for understanding the impacts of noise, prey, and contaminants. Publishing volume is necessary to choose a surrogate, but is not sufficient. Surrogates were chosen based on physiological similarities to CIB as well as their comparable management situations. Therefore, these lower-ranked threats should be ranked more highly and researched specifically in regard to CIB. We use this review to offer management recommendations based on current CIB and surrogate literature regarding listed threats in the CIB recovery plan. Our analyses suggest that CIB may benefit from a revision to and elevation of some low and medium-concern threats such as contaminants, habitat degradation, and prey reduction. ( source : FrontiersInMarineScience )
