100 Tons More Forage Fish for Endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales
At the recent Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) meeting, Alaska Wildlife Alliance’s proposal to restore the Susitna River commercial eulachon (a.k.a., hooligan or smelt) harvest limit back to 100 tons was approved by a 5-1 vote! This provides 200,000 more pounds of forage fish to the spring Susitna River ecosystem, including to critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, when they need it most.
“We did not seek to close the fishery, but to restore the harvest cap that had been in place since 2005. Amidst the uncertainty due to lack of data, we’re glad the Board supported our efforts to find a balance between the ecosystem value of these forage fish and their commercial value, for the benefit of whales and everything else in the food chain.” - Mandy Migura, Alaska Wildlife Alliance Deputy Director
Our proposal cites a lack of data about the eulachon population status and growing ecosystem-level concerns that the depletion of this key forage fish has impacts on higher trophic levels, including king salmon, which are being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and Cook Inlet beluga whales (CIBW) which are already listed as an endangered species. The Tyonek Advisory Committee submitted a proposal to close the fishery entirely, which was not taken up by the Board of Fish.
Eulachon (aka hooligan or smelt) by ADFG
The Matanuska-Susitna Basin by Mat-Su Fish Habitat Partnership
History of the Fishery
Historical commercial harvests of eulachon in Upper Cook Inlet began in 1978 when 300 pounds were harvested, reaching 50 tons in 1998. In 1999, the State adopted the Forage Fish Management Plan, which closed commercial fishing for smelt in Upper Cook Inlet from 2000 to 2004 until the Cook Inlet Smelt Fishery Management Plan was adopted. In 2005, the BOF reopened a commercial dipnet fishery on the Susitna with a 100-ton harvest cap under a Commissioner’s permit. The intent was to maintain the 100-ton harvest cap until a general assessment of stock strength could be conducted.
In 2016, ADF&G began what was intended to be the first of a three-year study of eulachon escapement into the Susitna River. In 2017, based on a proposal from a member of the public asking for a doubling of the harvest limit, the preliminary 2016 study results from ADF&G, and a promise of two more years of study by ADF&G, the BOF increased the eulachon commercial harvest cap to 200 tons. Between 1998 and 2017, the harvest cap quadrupled with very little data about the population. Unfortunately, ADF&G canceled both the second and third years of the promised study. The 200-ton commercial harvest cap has been maintained since 2017 despite no subsequent fishery-independent assessments occurring in Upper Cook Inlet. In 2020 and 2021, this new limit was exceeded.
why this fishery is important
Fisheries management, including in Alaska, has an extensive track record of overharvesting resources that were perceived to be so abundant that they could not be overfished. Many stocks have subsequently collapsed. Climate change has altered previous ecosystem productivity patterns and linkages to amplify these collapses. Eulachon typically live 3-4 years and likely exhibit broad population swings based on spawning conditions, larval rearing conditions, and the marine environment. Eulachon population estimates in nearby waters of Lower Cook Inlet and the Northern Gulf of Alaska have declined dramatically in recent years, but no updated stock abundance estimates are available for Upper Cook Inlet eulachon populations.
In written comments, AWA highlighted that Susitna eulachon play a critical ecosystem role in Cook Inlet, especially to endangered CIBWs) who calve and nurse in the mouth of the Susitna River. The CIBW population, which solely resides in Cook Inlet year-round, has experienced a significant decline. In 1979, there were approximately 1,300 beluga whales, but the population has crashed significantly and has been hovering at around 300 whales for the past several years. Because of this decline, and the lack of recovery of this whale population, they were listed as an “endangered species” in 2008 and critical habitat, which includes but is not limited to the mouth of the Susitna River, was designated in 2011.
Endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, by NOAA/NMFS. The entire Cook Inlet Beluga whale population can be found near the mouth of the Susitna River, and the fishery is located in designated critical habitat. This region of Cook Inlet is regarded as a common nursing and calving ground for these endangered whales.
NOAA Fisheries has identified several threats to these whales, including a “reduction in prey,” and explicitly identified eulachon as a critical prey species for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, particularly in late spring/early summer when the whales have lost substantial weight after surviving a winter with little food. Cook Inlet beluga whales start to rebuild their energy reserves by spring feeding on eulachon, followed by king and coho salmon during the summer. But declines in king and coho salmon populations make spring eulachon even more important, particularly for pregnant and lactating females who may not have sufficient energy reserves to wait until the salmon run. Recent research has documented these belugas are reproducing slower than their counterparts in other areas, and that if sufficient food was available, they would be able to better withstand the other threats they face and potentially increase their reproductive rates to those displayed by other beluga whale populations.
The entire CIBW population can be found in the vicinity of the Susitna River in late spring/early summer. According to AWA’s comments, removing an additional 100 tons (200,000 pounds) of eulachon from the Susitna River region is equivalent to removing food from the entire beluga population for 11-16 days. At the rate of harvest in the fishery, a single person can remove enough eulachon from the Susitna River to feed the entire Cook Inlet beluga whale population for one day in just 3 hours.
Our solution
In the absence of a consistent time series of eulachon assessments, AWA sought a reduction of the commercial eulachon harvest cap to back to the longstanding 100 tons as a precautionary approach to protect the eulachon population and the ecosystem upon which they depend.
The Board of Fish agreed, citing the importance of eulachon for salmon and beluga whales.
Nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency also supported this effort and submitted written comments on the proposal to the Board of Fish.
“With this important decision by the BOF, they have chosen to prioritize an ecosystem management approach that underscores the critical necessity for maintaining a healthy and functioning Cook Inlet marine food web. For endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales, a NOAA designated “Species in the Spotlight”, helping to address critical prey availability will no doubt be essential towards improving overall health and reproductive success which can lead to future population recovery.” - CT Harry, Senior Ocean Policy Analyst, with Washington DC based Environmental Investigation Agency.
Thank you to the members and supporters who make this work possible! We will continue our work to understand smelt population density and run-timing, trying our best to balance the needs of the ecosystem with Alaskan commercial fisheries.
