NOAA Fisheries Schedules Fourth Public Hearing on Cook Inlet Belugas

NOAA Fisheries Service has scheduled a fourth public meeting on the proposed listing of Cook Inlet beluga whales under the Endangered Species Act. Meetings are planned in Homer, Anchorage, and Soldotna, Alaska and in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Meeting details have been published in the Federal Register (72 FR 37697, July 11, 2007) and posted on the NOAA Fisheries Alaska region website at: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/beluga.htm. Locations and times are:

• Homer: July 19 between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm at the Maritime Refuge, Island and Oceans, 95 Sterling Highway #1, Homer, AK.



• Anchorage: July 20 between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm in the Loussac Public Library, Wilda Marston room, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, AK.



• Soldotna: July 27 between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly chambers, 144 North Binkley Street, Soldotna, AK.



• Silver Spring, MD: July 31 between 3:30 pm and 6:30 pm at NOAA Headquarters, Building 3, Conference Room 2358, 1325 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD.

Cook Inlet beluga whales are estimated to have numbered as many as 1,300 belugas as recently as the 1970s, but have declined significantly during the last two decades. The most recent abundance estimate (2006) for this population is 302 whales. Despite actions to reduce subsistence harvests, the population has not recovered.

NOAA Fisheries recently completed a comprehensive status review for the Cook Inlet beluga whales. Population models project a 26 percent probability these whales will become extinct within the next 100 years. Based on these findings and consideration of the factors affecting this species, experts concluded that the Cook Inlet belugas constitute a distinct population segment that is in danger of extinction throughout its range. Accordingly, the agency issued a proposed rule to list the Cook Inlet beluga whale distinct population segment as an endangered species (72 FR 19854, April 20, 2007).

NOAA Fisheries is not proposing to designate critical habitat at this time, but is soliciting information on issues relevant to the Cook Inlet beluga whale listing under the Endangered Species Act and information related to the identification of critical habitat and essential physical or biological features for this species.

The proposed rule and supporting information are available on the agency website: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/beluga.htm.

Public comment on this proposed action will be received until August 3, 2007.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries Service in Alaska, please visit our websites at www.fakr.noaa.gov or at www.afsc.noaa.gov.

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