Ocean Sentry
(From alaskajournal.com) Federal fisheries officials expect to have a final management plan in place in early August for future belugas whale hunts in Cook Inlet, but a larger decision on whether to list the belugas in that area as threatened or endangered won”t come until October.
Endangered means there is a serious risk of extinction, while threatened means survival of the population is uncertain, but is considered at risk.
A decision on whether to accord the whales federal protection was supposed to come in April, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration postponed that decision to do one more Cook Inlet beluga survey. Results of that survey, now in process, will be considered in determining whether the whales are threatened or endangered.
