Green Options

The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed to designate over 3,000 square miles of critical habitat for endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales.

Good news for critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales: The Center for Biological Diversity announced today that over 3,000 square miles of critical habitat has been proposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

In order to construct an undersea warfare training range adjacent to the only known calving grounds for endangered right whales, the U.S. Navy has decided to proceed without obtaining required approvals.

According to Earthjustice, the Navy plans to start construction of the undersea warfare training range at a location next to the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) calving grounds - despite the fact that authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has not been obtained.

While numerous measures for lessening its environmental impact were recommended by the states of Georgia and Florida and environmental groups, the Navy rejected all of them. The Navy’s own documents further revealed that the warfare training range site was selected without considering environmental impacts.

The Port of Anchorage has been given the green light by the National Marine Fisheries Service to continue an expansion project in the habitat of critically endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales.

A Port of Anchorage construction project will be using underwater pile drivers and chipping hammers in waters frequented by the critically endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales. The National Marine Fisheries Service has determined that the whales would not experience long-term adverse affects form the noise generated by underwater activity.

Regulations require that work must stop if a whale is spotted within a certain distance. Unfortunately, new regulations have reduced the distance required for stopping work to just 200 meters, although when the project started, the distance was 1,300 meters.

According to Marine Issues Field Director for the HSUS, Sharon Young, the NMFS has underestimated the “impact of chronic noise on marine mammals over time.” She points out in the same article that even if behavioral changes have not been shown so far by the whales, it is inconclusive to assume they are not suffering from adverse effects, such as stress.