Saving the whales

Thousands of square miles off Alaska have been designated as critical habitat for North Pacific Right Whales, considered the most endangered whale in the world.

The federal rule published recently designates some 36,750 square miles (95,180 square kilometres) in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska as critical habitat for Right Whales. The rule took effect on August 7.

At least 11,000 of the slow-moving whales -prized by commercial whalers for their oil and baleen - once swam the waters of the North Pacific. The whales were listed as endangered in 1973 and they are now believed to number fewer than 100 in the waters near Alaska. A few hundred more may remain closer to Russia.

With so few whales remaining, scientists had a challenge coming up with the proper criteria for designating habitat, said Brad Smith, a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Anchorage, Alaska.

Scientists settled on recent sightings, sounds and the four types of plankton the whales eat to designate areas in the South- Eastern Bering Sea and South and East of Kodiak Island, Alaska.

"Sightings of right whales in the South-Eastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska and locations of Right Whale calls were instrumental in identifying these important feeding areas," said Doug Mecum, acting administrator of the Alaska region of NOAA fisheries.

Even with the critical habitat designation, the recovery of the whales is tenuous (slight), Smith said.

Khaleej Times