AERIAL SURVEYS OF BELUGA IN COOK INLET, ALASKA
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducted an aerial survey of the beluga population in Cook Inlet, Alaska, during 6-13 June 2000. The 43 hr survey was flown in a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft at an altitude of 244 m (800 ft) and speed of 185 km/hr (100 kt), consistent with NMFS ’ annu...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2000
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.230.631 http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/beluga/aerial2000survey.pdf |
| Summary: | The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducted an aerial survey of the beluga population in Cook Inlet, Alaska, during 6-13 June 2000. The 43 hr survey was flown in a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft at an altitude of 244 m (800 ft) and speed of 185 km/hr (100 kt), consistent with NMFS ’ annual surveys conducted each year since 1993. The flights in June 2000 included one or more surveys of coastal areas (flown 1.4 km offshore) around the entire Inlet and 1,841 km of transects across the Inlet. Paired, independent observers searched on the coastal (right) side of the plane, where virtually all beluga sightings occur, while a single observer and a computer operator/data recorder were on the left side. In addition, on each day a representative of the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council observed from the right side. After finding beluga groups, a series of aerial passes were made to allow at least two pairs of primary observers to make 4 or more counts of each group. Median counts made in optimal viewing conditions were 114 beluga in the Susitna Delta (between the Beluga and Little Susitna Rivers), 42 in Knik Arm, and 28 in Chickaloon Bay, but no beluga were found in lower Cook Inlet in spite of ideal sighting conditions. This is consistent with the sighting distributions observed each June or July since 1996. The sum of the aerial estimates (not corrected for missed whales) for June 2000 is 184, which is the lowest index count made by NMFS observers since these surveys began in 1993, but it is essentially the same as counts made in 1998 (193) and 1999 (217). |
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