According to figures released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a group of endangered beluga whales in Alaska is declining, raising concern that protection for the animals is not coming quickly enough. Numbers have slipped again to 321 animals, down from an estimated 375 animals in 2007 and 2008.

The Cook Inlet belugas were listed last year as endangered but there is still no critical habitat designation or recovery plan in place, however with this latest news a critical habitat proposal will now be issued this month and a recovery team is being put in place. There were about 1,300 Cook Inlet belugas in the 1980s but numbers had declined to an estimated 653 in 1994. Numbers reached an all-time low of 278 in 2005. Alaskas' other four beluga groups are not endangered and number thousands. The Cook Inlet whales, which swim mainly off Anchorage, are considered a genetically distinct population and don't mix with the other four beluga groups in Alaska.

Scientists do not know why Cook Inlet belugas have declined and their numbers continued to decline even after hunting was sharply curtailed in 1999. There has been no subsistence hunt for the past three years and none is planned for the immediate future.

Image: AP