New plan details recovery for Cook Inlet belugas

On Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released what they are calling a “final recovery plan” for Cook Inlet’s declining beluga whale population. The plan also details what it will take for the whales to be removed from the endangered species list.
Cook Inlet belugas were listed as endangered in 2008. Mandy Migura, a biologist with NMFS, said the population decline was fairly epic: from 1,300 whales in the late 1970s down to 340 belugas by 2014.
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