So, how many belugas are there?

On Saturday, Alaskans joined NOAA Fisheries staff for an annual count of Cook Inlet belugas. Over 1800 participants met up at 22 locations along Cook Inlet with their binoculars, scopes, and cameras to see 88 belugas. 

Kids and adults had the opportunity to look at models of belugas and learn about the whales at their viewing stations.Photo by Dyani Chapman | TPIN

Cook Inlet Belugas are endangered. Five decades ago, there were about 1300 belugas in the inlet, while the 2022 count found 331. The population used to be threatened by commercial and sport hunting, although that practice is now banned. Only Alaska Natives are allowed to hunt belugas now, and the local tribes have foregone that right in Cook Inlet since 2005 in an effort to allow the species to repopulate. Belugas still face the threats from pollution, habitat degradation, oil and gas extraction and exploration, interactions with commercial and recreational fisheries, warming oceans, and disease. 

The 2022 count provided a bit of hope for the beluga population because it was a little over 50 higher than the 2018 count of 279. In order to see that official count rise, and for Alaskans to observe more, we need to protect the belugas from new oil and gas operations and from pollution run off.