Judge rejects extra protections for Alaska whales
Date: 24-Aug-01
Country: USA
Author: Yereth Rosen
In a ruling released this week, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson said the environmentalists, who sued for Endangered Species Act protections, did not show new restrictions on industrial, municipal or recreational activities in the inlet would benefit the belugas.
The whales in the inlet, a channel that runs from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska, now number 300 to 400, down from a 1980s population estimated at 1,000 to 1,300.
All parties involved in the lawsuit agree that overharvesting by Alaska Natives caused the decline of the inlet's belugas, Robertson said in a ruling welcome to Alaska business groups and municipalities.
So the National Marine Fisheries Service acted appropriately, the judge said, when it used the Marine Mammal Protection Act last year to list the population as "depleted" - an action that allows limits on Native American harvests.
The agency and native hunting groups have agreed to halt beluga harvests, and that should solve the animals' problem, Robertson said in his ruling signed early this week.
"If the moratorium fails to control Native American harvesting in the future, ESA listing will be warranted," Robertson, who serves in Washington, D.C., said.
"But (the) plaintiffs have been unable to point to anything in the record indicating that the current whale population is unsustainable if the harvest is indeed restricted successfully."
Six environmental groups and an Alaska Native from the Cook Inlet region sued to have the whale population listed as endangered or threatened.
They argued pollution and disturbances from such sources as offshore oil operations made the over-hunted whales more vulnerable and possibly at risk of disappearing from the inlet.
The environmentalists may take further action.
"We're considering our appeal options right now," said Jack Sterne, an attorney with Trustees for Alaska, the Anchorage-based environmental law firm that represented the plaintiffs.
Business groups and municipalities opposed efforts to place the belugas on the endangered species list.
Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch hailed Robertson's ruling. "Today's court decision is very positive and scientifically sound," he said in a prepared statement.
Belugas weigh up to 2,000 pounds (900 kg) and range widely in Arctic and subarctic waters. The Cook Inlet region is the most populated in Alaska.
