Alaska Beluga Strandings

NMFS is mandated by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to collect reports of marine mammal stranding events. This particular catalogue item is specific to the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population.

These data are sensitive. Only authorized users may access this data directly. The Alaska Regional Office will provide a set of non-sensitive aggregated data.

These data are sensitive. Only authorized users may access this data directly. The Alaska Regional Office will provide a set of non-sensitive aggregated data.

Data represents all known and confirmed reported beluga whale strandings. However, there could be stranding events that were not reported, and therefore, not recorded. The likelihood of not reporting beluga whale strandings is high pre-1999.

Bias would exist based on location of the stranded beluga whale. This is because beluga whales could strand throughout Cook Inlet, but to be observed and reported, people would have to 1) find the stranded whale and 2) report the stranded whale to the federal (NMFS, FWS), state (ADFG, troopers), and/or local governments. Cook Inlet is populated along Turnagain Arm (Seward Highway), Anchorage, Kenai, and Homer.

Stranding reports are very completed when necropsies have been done on the beluga whales. Stranding reports are complete when people are able to get on site to measure the stranded whale. Sometimes stranded whales are observed floating by or from airplanes, so reports only identify species, date, and locations.

Level A and B reports were digitized and stored within the database. Data entry was completed by a contractor for the dates 1945-2011. These data and newly added information were reviewed and corrected as needed by NMFS staff.

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IT Security and Contingency Plan for the system establishes procedures and applies to the functions, operations, and resources necessary to recover and restore data as hosted in the Alaska Region in Juneau, Alaska, following a disruption.

Beluga Whale Stranding Level A and Level B reports were completed by NMFS staff, contractors, other agency staff, and volunteers. These reports were then digitized and data was entered into database by a contractor. NMFS staff then reviewed the entered data for accuracy.