News and Announcements | NOAA Fisheries

NOAA Fisheries and Partners Invite Public to Help Count Cook Inlet Beluga Whales

Beluga whales are one of Alaska’s iconic marine mammals. That’s why NOAA Fisheries and partners invite members of the public to participate in conserving the endangered population in Cook Inlet in a new event called “Belugas Count!” —being held Saturday, September...

08/02/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA-Trained Team Hopeful Strategic Cut Freed an Entangled Humpback Near Tracy Arm

NOAA Fisheries marine mammal entanglement experts are hopeful that a humpback whale is free, after a successful operation to cut the anchor line it was stuck in Sunday afternoon near the mouth of Tracy Arm. The humpback had become entangled in the anchor...

02/23/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Statement on Ketchikan Humpback Whale

NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the death of a humpback whale that was brought into the port of Ketchikan, Alaska this morning. At this time, NOAA Fisheries is coordinating to have the whale carcass towed to a nearby location suitable...

02/23/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA to Offer Fishermen Option for Electronic Monitoring in 2018

Beginning in 2018, Alaska fishermen, some of whom may not have the space on their vessel or life raft capacity for a NOAA Fisheries observer, will have the option to use an electronic monitoring (EM) system instead. NOAA Fisheries is integrating EM into...

02/24/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Releases New Population Estimate for Endangered Cook Inlet Beluga Whales

Marjorie Mooney-Seus, 206-526-4348 w. 774-392-4865 c. Julie Speegle, 907-586-7032 NOAA Fisheries released today its biennial population estimate for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale. Scientists determined that the population size is between 279...

08/02/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Fisheries Recognizes JBER Team as Cook Inlet Beluga Recovery Heroes

Anchorage, AK—NOAA Fisheries presented the Species in the Spotlight Recovery Hero Award to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Cook Inlet beluga conservation program team on April 6, 2017. The team is part of the 673rd Air Base Wing Environmental Element,...

08/02/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Proposes to Put Cameras, Sensors on Boats to Monitor Fishing

NOAA Fisheries is proposing to integrate electronic monitoring (EM) into the North Pacific Observer Program. An EM system uses cameras and associated sensors to passively record and monitor fishing activities—work traditionally accomplished by a human fisheries...

02/24/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

Pacific Halibut Season to Open March 11 at Noon

NOAA Fisheries is providing notice of the immediate effect of regulations of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). The commercial IFQ halibut season opens Saturday, March 11, 2017. At its annual meeting in January, the IPHC recommended...

02/24/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Fisheries Issues Recovery Plan for Cook Inlet Beluga Whales

NOAA Fisheries is releasing its recovery plan for the Cook Inlet beluga whale, which will guide efforts to recover the species to a point where they can be removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. “This plan is...

08/02/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

NOAA Fisheries Finds Harbor Seals in Iliamna Lake Not Warranted for Listing Under ESA

NOAA Fisheries concluded that the listing of Pacific harbor seals in Iliamna Lake, Alaska as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is not warranted. The seals do not constitute a species as defined by the ESA,...

06/21/2018 - Media Release ,

Alaska

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