Listen to AWA’s Teresa Becher and Mandy Migura chat about the special population of endangered beluga whales who live in the Cook Inlet in the central Gulf of Alaska.
Teresa is the Beluga Whale Monitoring Coordinator who coordinates monitoring sessions of a whole team of volunteer community scientists and is the go-to expert on the beluga whales' behaviors in the Kenai and Kasilof rivers.
Mandy is the Deputy Director and Marine Program Officer for AWA. One of her responsibilities is to coordinate a group of nonprofits who advocate for the recovery of Cook Inlet beluga whales, a position she is uniquely suited for given her prior 11-year experience as the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Recovery Coordinator when she worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service (now called NOAA Fisheries). NOAA Fisheries is the federal agency responsible for the management of Cook Inlet beluga whales.
The beluga whales of the Cook Inlet live explicitly in this inlet and because of this limited habitat, they also must face continued threats such as water waste pollution, noise pollution, climate change affecting their food availability as well as the rising temperature of the water in which they live, disease, habitat loss, as well as vessel strikes to name a few. Their numbers have declined so dramatically, that approximately 300 beluga whales remain in the inlet. They are now listed as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
Alaska Wildlife Alliance is on the front lines, researching the various threats to the beluga whales, addressing these threats to ensure this very specialized group of beluga whales have a chance at surviving as well as raising awareness of how we can become involved and support this small group of beluga whales.
If you live in Alaska near the Cook Inlet and would like to volunteer to monitor the beluga whales, please go to www.akbmp.org to learn more. If you would like to provide support for the beluga whales via your smartphone, text beluga to (833) 541-0408. If you encounter any stranded marine mammal along a coastal area, please call NOAA at (877) 925-7773. To learn more about AWA’s work, please go to https://www.akwildlife.org.
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Photo of Cook Inlet beluga whale by Madison Kosma
