Distribution of Cook Inlet Beluga Whales in Winter

Hansen, Donald; Hubbard, Joel

Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) commonly occur in Cook Inlet during summer and autumn (May through October). However, little information is available on their distribution during the winter. Ten aerial surveys were conducted in Cook In let from February 12th through March 14, 1997. Some surveys were extended to include the lower Kenai Peninsula, Shelikof Strait, Kodiak Island, and Yakutat Bay areas. Most of the survey efort was devoted to search surveys along and within about 3 km of coastlines; however, sets of parallel transects were flown in Cook Inlet, Kamishak Bay, and Yakutat Bay. a total of 160 individual beluga whatle sightings were recorded duing 9,406 km of survey effort. Of these sightings, 150 were recorded in the middle portion of Cook In let, from the west side of Kalgin Island to just north of the East Foreland, and 10 were recorded near the Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay (60º01' N, 139' W). The surveys also recorded four other species of cetacea (harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, 35 individuals; Dall's porpoise, Phocoenoides dalli, 11 individuals; killer whale, Orcinus orca,3 individuals; and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus,3 individuals), two species of pinnipedia (Steller's sealion, Eumetopias jubatus, 594 individuals; harbor seal, Phoca vitulina, 440 individuals), and sea otter (Enhydra lutris,784 individuals)//