Beluga Whale Research Paper

The beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a cetacean inhabiting the marine arctic and is found throughout the arctic seas as well as smaller seas such as the Beaufort Sea, the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, Cook Inlet, and several other seas (Frost and Suydam, 2010). This species is migratory and will migrate to shallower coastal waters during the summer, but as winter approaches they travel back to the northern icy waters (Goetz et al., 2012). Beluga’s feed on small fish, as well as squid, octopus, snails, and crustaceans. The pack ice makes an ideal habitat for these large, blubbery creatures (Goetz et al., 2012). Their ability to echolocate is also a bonus when trying to maneuver through this hazardous environment.
The beluga whale, as a species, is doing fairly well, however of the many subpopulations, one in particular is critically endangered (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). The beluga whales in Cook Inlet, AK differ from other populations genetically because of their geographic isolation (Frost and Suydam, 2010). The number of beluga individuals in Cook Inlet, AK had declined heavily between 1979 and 2008, going from 1293 individuals to 375 individuals (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). While there is no one factor that can be solely attributed to the severe population
decline, as there were deaths from being prey to Orcinus orca (killer whale), stranding’s, negative environmental effects caused by oil companies, stranding’s, climate change and several other factors, illegal hunting stands out as one of the few anthropogenic factors (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). While hunting belugas for non-subsistence purposes was illegal, for 20 years, subsistence hunting WAS practiced regularly (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). Illegal hunting differs from subsistence hunting in that subsistence hunting is necessary by the native Alaskans (Frost and Suydam, 2010). Since Southwestern Alaska was more rural during the 1900’s, the natives, as well as their descendants had to rely on the animals of the sea rather than commercially produced food stuffs. This is why hunting of many marine species, including the beluga whale became necessary (Valencia and VanderZwaag, 1989). Many of the indigenous people utilized the beluga whale primarily for meat, but they also used the blubber for fuel and the skin for clothing (Valencia and VanderZwaag, 1989). One inhibitor of subsistence hunting was the presence of mercury in the beluga whale meat. The main tribes that hunted for subsistence were the Alaskan Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts (Valencia and VanderZwaag, 1989). However, while these tribes were allowed to subsistence hunt by the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Commission, there were those that abused this allowance by killing more than permitted (Valencia and VanderZwaag, 1989). In 1999, after the effect of the continual subsistence hunting and rise in illegal killings became apparent, there was a halt of subsistence hunting that took place voluntarily (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). While this slowed the population decline, belugas were not rebounding as fast as predicted (Goetz et al., 2012). And with the continuation of illegal hunting, this negative population trend continued until 2008 (Carter and Nielsen, 2010). This mass population decline can be detrimental.
The decline in any species can have negative effects on its ecosystem. Cook Inlet is described as a top down regulated ecosystem (Goetz et al., 2012), with Odontocetes such as the beluga and killer whale labeled as apex predators. When populations of an apex predator in this type of ecosystem decline, then the secondary consumer population will increase. This causes a decrease in the primary producer population which can lead to a catastrophic failure of the ecosystem.
There are many more factors that have attributed to the heavy decline of this species, but anthropogenic factors can be better regulated than natural factors.
Further enforcement and harsher consequences for disregard of laws that regulate marine mammals as a whole, but more specifically the Cook Inlet stock of beluga whales, is needed. By reducing our impact on the environment, we can nurture rebound rates of marine species and be able to observe them at their original population sizes. If commercially made food stuffs were more easily available in the rural areas along the coasts of Cook Inlet, then the demand for belugas and other marine species would decrease, thus giving them a chance to
rebound.