The US Federal Government intends to list Cook Inlet, in Alaska ascritical habitat for beluga whales under the Endangered Species Act.  Cook Inlets belugaswere estimated to number about 1,300 in the early 1980s, but the populationplummeted to around 350 in the late 1990s, probably due to local hunting. Harvestswere restricted in 1999 but the population hasnt recovered.

The fisheries service listed the whales as endangered in2008, and a few weeks ago proposed designating more than 3,000 square miles of Cook Inlet as critical habitat for the belugas. The critical areas cover all of Anchorage and Mat-Su Boroughs tidal waters and extend down Cook Inlet past the City of Kenai. The habitat also includes parts of Kachemak Baynear Homer and areas across the inlet from the Kenai Peninsula. The area would encompass more than a third of Cook Inlet, mostly thenorthern portion off Anchorage, including shallow areas where thebelugas spend summer feeding and nursing their young. It also overlays areas heavily used for including oil and gas production, commercial shipping, fishing and municipal wastewater discharge.

"The purposes of the Endangered Species Act are toprevent the extinction of species and to foster their conservation and recoveryso, what were trying to do is get in now before the situation becomes any worseand hopefully take some activities or actions that can initiate theirrecovery," said NOAA biologist Brad Smith.

However this week local mayors have moved against thisprotection, believing that the listing will cripple the economy.

Sources:

KTUU.com | Seattle PI | Reuters