So far, federal officials say, a voluntary Native effort to stop Cook Inlet beluga hunting appears to be holding. But efforts to draw up a long-term agreement on beluga hunting have been thwarted by a dispute between Cook Inlet tribal governments, who are mostly Indian, and the hunters, who are predominantly Eskimos from other parts of Alaska. Both groups want to be the main Native voice in negotiating hunting limits with federal wildlife officials. The jockeying over a hunt is being closely watched by conservationists, who say beluga whales have fallen so low that no hunting should be allowed. Cook Inlet's belugas are the smallest of five distinct beluga populations in Alaska, according to Brad Smith, an NMFS biologist.
Federal biologists say beluga numbers have declined by half in the past four years.
Widespread Native hunting, including commercial harvest of belugas for sale in Anchorage, appears to be the chief reason for the decline, federal officials say, Native hunters took 78 whales last year, biologists say. NMFS biologists say the current population, estimated at 347 last summer, can sustain a harvest of 2 percent. That would mean seven whales struck or landed this summer. Such a harvest would slow the recovery of the beluga population, but it would be a small fraction of previous years' harvests. Some Native leaders have questioned the accuracy of the population estimate, calling it too low.