Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000
Aerial surveys of belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet wre flown each year during June and/or July from 1993 to 2000. This project was designed to delineate distribution and collect aerial counts, elements critical to the managment of this small, isolated stock that was subjected to a persi...
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ftoceandocs:oai:aquadocs.org:1834/26380 2023-05-15T15:41:58+02:00 Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 Rugh, David J. Shelden, Kim E. W. Mahoney, Barbara A. 2000 application/pdf 6-21 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26380 en eng http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr623/mfr6232.pdf 0090-1830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26380 http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/9766 403 2012-08-16 14:32:45 9766 United States National Marine Fisheries Service Biology Ecology Fisheries Management article TRUE 2000 ftoceandocs 2023-04-06T17:03:10Z Aerial surveys of belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet wre flown each year during June and/or July from 1993 to 2000. This project was designed to delineate distribution and collect aerial counts, elements critical to the managment of this small, isolated stock that was subjected to a persistent harvest by Native hunters. The surveys provided a thorough, annual coverage of the coastal areas of the inlet (1,300 km of shoreline) and included roughly 1,000 km of offshore transects annually. Coastal transects were flown 1.4 km from the waterline, thus surveying most of the area within 3 km of shore. These, along with offshore transects, provided annual systematic searches of 13-33% of the entire inlet. The largest concentration of belugas (151-288 whales by aerial count) was in the northern portion of upper Cook Inlet in the Susitna River Delta and/or in Knik Arm. Another concentration (17-49 whales) was consistently found between Chickaloon River and Point Possession. Smaller groups (generally <20 whales) were occasionally found in Turn-again Arm, Kachemak Bay, Redoubt Bay (Big River), and Trading Bay (McArthur River) prior to 1995 but not thereafter. Over the past three decades, summer distribution has shrunk such that sightings now only rarely occur in lower Cook Inlet and in offshore areas. In the 1990's, most (96-100%) of the sightings were concentrated in a few dense groups in shallow areas near river mouths in upper Cook Inlet. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Kachemak Alaska IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications Big River ENVELOPE(-125.196,-125.196,72.501,72.501) McArthur ENVELOPE(-70.337,-70.337,-71.166,-71.166) McArthur River ENVELOPE(-104.601,-104.601,57.834,57.834) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
IODE-UNESCO: OceanDocs - E-Repository of Ocean Publications |
op_collection_id |
ftoceandocs |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management |
spellingShingle |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management Rugh, David J. Shelden, Kim E. W. Mahoney, Barbara A. Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
topic_facet |
Biology Ecology Fisheries Management |
description |
Aerial surveys of belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet wre flown each year during June and/or July from 1993 to 2000. This project was designed to delineate distribution and collect aerial counts, elements critical to the managment of this small, isolated stock that was subjected to a persistent harvest by Native hunters. The surveys provided a thorough, annual coverage of the coastal areas of the inlet (1,300 km of shoreline) and included roughly 1,000 km of offshore transects annually. Coastal transects were flown 1.4 km from the waterline, thus surveying most of the area within 3 km of shore. These, along with offshore transects, provided annual systematic searches of 13-33% of the entire inlet. The largest concentration of belugas (151-288 whales by aerial count) was in the northern portion of upper Cook Inlet in the Susitna River Delta and/or in Knik Arm. Another concentration (17-49 whales) was consistently found between Chickaloon River and Point Possession. Smaller groups (generally <20 whales) were occasionally found in Turn-again Arm, Kachemak Bay, Redoubt Bay (Big River), and Trading Bay (McArthur River) prior to 1995 but not thereafter. Over the past three decades, summer distribution has shrunk such that sightings now only rarely occur in lower Cook Inlet and in offshore areas. In the 1990's, most (96-100%) of the sightings were concentrated in a few dense groups in shallow areas near river mouths in upper Cook Inlet. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rugh, David J. Shelden, Kim E. W. Mahoney, Barbara A. |
author_facet |
Rugh, David J. Shelden, Kim E. W. Mahoney, Barbara A. |
author_sort |
Rugh, David J. |
title |
Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
title_short |
Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
title_full |
Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, During June/July 1993–2000 |
title_sort |
distribution of belugas, delphinapterus leucas, in cook inlet, alaska, during june/july 1993–2000 |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26380 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.196,-125.196,72.501,72.501) ENVELOPE(-70.337,-70.337,-71.166,-71.166) ENVELOPE(-104.601,-104.601,57.834,57.834) |
geographic |
Big River McArthur McArthur River |
geographic_facet |
Big River McArthur McArthur River |
genre |
Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Kachemak Alaska |
genre_facet |
Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Kachemak Alaska |
op_source |
http://aquaticcommons.org/id/eprint/9766 403 2012-08-16 14:32:45 9766 United States National Marine Fisheries Service |
op_relation |
http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/mfr623/mfr6232.pdf 0090-1830 http://hdl.handle.net/1834/26380 |
_version_ |
1766374846689705984 |