Agreement Between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee for the Co-Management of the Western Alaska Beluga Whale Population

The purposes of this Agreement between NOAA Fisheries and the ABWC are to conserve the Western Alaska beluga whale populations; protect Alaska Native beluga whale subsistence hunting traditions and culture; promote scientific research on beluga whales, whale stocks and their environment; and effectuate provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that are relevant to aboriginal subsistence hunting of beluga whales.

To achieve these purposes, this Agreement provides for:

1. Cooperation between members of the ABWC and NOAA Fisheries in the conservation and management of Western Alaska beluga whales for the year 2000 and thereafter; and
2. The development of Regional Beluga Whale Management Plans to be entered into under this Agreement between the ABWC and the ABWC Management Regions