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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017
NOAA releases recovery plan
for endangered beluga whales
Focus on
research and
potential threats
By DAN JOLING
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —
A federal plan for the recov-
ery of an endangered Alaska
beluga whale calls for a reduc-
tion in threats of high concern
while scientists try to pinpoint
what has kept the population
from growing.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administra-
tion has announced its recov-
ery plan for Cook Inlet beluga
whales, a population listed as
endangered since 2008.
NOAA’s National Marine
Fisheries Service acknowl-
edges it does not know why
the population hasn’t bounced
back. In the absence of an
answer, the agency will focus
on research and potential
threats, such as noise and the
cumulative effects of “multi-
ple stressors.”
“Until we know which
threats are limiting this species’
recovery, the strategy of this
recovery plan is to focus recov-
ery efforts on threats identified
as of medium or high relative
concern,” the agency said.
Alaska fought the endan-
gered species listing of Cook
Inlet belugas eight years ago
and took issue with the recov-
ery plan. State Division of
Wildlife Conservation direc-
tor Bruce Dale in a state-
ment said it contains unten-
able recovery criteria that will
limit acceptance by interested
parties and extend hurdles to
development.
“The most critical action
for recovering the Cook Inlet
belugas will be to deter-
mine why the population isn’t
growing,” Dale said. “The
threats limiting recovery are
unknown.”
AP Photo/Al Grillo
One of two beluga whales that washed ashore on a
beach south of Anchorage, Alaska, in 2003. The Cook In-
let beluga whale population was listed as endangered in
2008, and a federal recovery plan released Wednesday
calls for a reduction in threats of highest concern, in-
cluding noise and cumulative factors that may be keep-
ing the population from growing.
A 1979 survey counted
nearly 1,300 beluga whales.
A 2014 survey estimated just
340 and a population continu-
ing to trend downward.
The recovery plan calls
for an upgrade to “threat-
ened” status when the popula-
tion reaches 520 animals and
delisting when there are 780.
Dale took issue with those
targets.
“These demographic cri-
teria are problematic because
the number of animals in a
population is not necessar-
ily an indication of the risk
of extinction,” Dale said. The
plan includes threats-based
recovery criteria that cannot
be measured and are impossi-
ble to meet, he said.
Cook Inlet belugas are
one of five beluga popula-
tions in U.S. waters. Cook
Inlet stretches 180 miles from
Anchorage to the Gulf of
Alaska and the fisheries ser-
vice considers 1,300 animals
to be its carrying capacity.
The whales turn white as
adults and can reach 15 feet
long. They feed on salmon,
smaller fish, crab, shrimp,
squid and clams and in late
summer can be spotted from
highways leading from
Anchorage, chasing salmon
schooled at stream mouths.
The Cook Inlet beluga
population dwindled steadily
through the 1980s and early
’90s. The decline accelerated
between 1994 and 1998 when
Alaska Natives harvested
nearly half the remaining 650
whales in only four years.
Subsistence hunting ended in
1999.
Federal officials initially
figured that controlling sub-
sistence hunting would allow
the population to recover.
When it did not, they declared
belugas endangered in 2008.
The agency identified 10
potential threats to belugas.
Of highest concern are cata-
strophic events, such as nat-
ural disasters or oil spills;
cumulative effects of multiple
stressors; and noise.
Threats of medium con-
cern include disease agents,
such as blooms of harmful
algae, loss of habitat, a reduc-
tion in prey and unauthorized
killing.
Threats of relatively low
concern include pollution, pre-
dation and subsistence hunting.
The agency estimated
recovery could take at least
50 years, which translates into
two generations of whales.
Karla Dutton, Alaska pro-
gram director for Defenders
of Wildlife, said the recov-
ery plan was overdue but
welcome.
“We call on National
Marine Fisheries Service to
properly fund in a timely man-
ner the science needed to fur-
ther understand and address
these threats so we can work
together to recover this iconic
Cook Inlet species,” she said
by email.
AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye
SeaWorld Adventure Park trainer Ken Peters, left, looks to
a killer whale during a 2006 performance at Shamu Sta-
dium inside the theme park in San Diego. SeaWorld San
Diego is ending its controversial and long-running killer
whale show.
SeaWorld San Diego
ending killer whale show
ticket sales, SeaWorld Enter-
tainment Inc. announced last
year it was ending its theatri-
cal orca shows and breeding
program.
Parks in Orlando and San
Antonio will end their shows
by 2019.
SeaWorld has seen atten-
dance fall since the 2013 docu-
mentary “Blackfish” criticized
conditions of captive orcas,
implying that confinement
made them more aggressive.
“Blackfish”
chronicled
the life of Tilikum, an orca
that killed a SeaWorld trainer
during a performance in
Orlando in 2010.
The movie’s director has
told CBS that the new show
was designed to make the
audience feel better, not the
animals.
“The trainers aren’t safe,
and the whales aren’t happy,”
Gabriela Cowperthwaite said.
“They’re still just doing manic
circles around concrete swim-
ming pools.”
SeaWorld reported Friday
that Tilikum, who was believed
to be about 36 years old and
in poor health, had died in
Orlando.
SeaWorld Entertainment
Inc. announced last month that
it was eliminating 320 jobs
across its 12-park company.
The company also announced
that it would help develop its
first SeaWorld park without
orcas, in Abu Dhabi.
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Sea-
World San Diego is ending
its long-running killer whale
show after years of outcry and
falling attendance prompted
it to renounce theatrical orca
displays.
The show that featured
killer whales cavorting with
trainers and leaping high out of
the Shamu Stadium pool had its
final performances on Sunday.
This summer, the park will
unveil a new attraction in the
revamped pool. Orca Encoun-
ter is being billed as an edu-
cational experience that will
show how killer whales eat,
communicate and navigate.
The animals will still
receive cues from trainers,
however.
“You will still see a whale
leaping out of the water,” Al
Garver, a former orca trainer
and vice president of zoological
operations, told the San Diego
Union-Tribune. “We want to
be able to demonstrate behav-
iors people would see in the
wild with the killer whales and
their abilities as a top predator
in the sea. The vast majority of
behaviors people have seen in
our shows will be very suitable
for demonstrating that.”
The park has 11 orcas, rang-
ing in age from 2 to 52 years
old.
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