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COOK INLET BELUGA PROJECT
ABOUT
THE COOK INLET BELUGA PROJECT 2023 features Alaska’s critically endangered beluga whales of Cook Inlet Alaska. The location featured within the painting is the important archeological Beluga point site located on Cook Inlet’s Turnagain Arm, Alaska.
The Beluga Point site, the rocky promontory, was an important gathering place for local indigenous peoples to scan and hunt the beluga whales of which was traditionally done for thousands of years. Artifacts discovered there are 8,000–10,000 years old and believed to be evidence of the oldest habitation in Anchorage municipality.
The painting portrays a family group of Cook Inlet Beluga Whales (the juvenile is gray in color) at high tide in the silty waters pursuing the silver salmon silver salmon on there way to the glacial streams of the Chugach National Forest.
Artist James Havens created the painting as an public educational outreach tool and partnered with NOAA Fisheries Alaska to help raise awareness to the plight of Alaska’s Cook Inlet Beluga Whales.
Learn More
"I have many fond memories of driving back from the Kenai Peninsula fishing trips along Cook Inlet's muddy waters and seeing the belugas fill the inlet from shore to shore...it is indeed heartbreaking to think of loosing them forever."
- James Havens
SPECIAL LIMITED PRINT RELEASE
We are excited to announce that we are now accepting pre-orders for the up-coming 36"X 48" limited edtition canvas prints titled "Cook Inlet Beluga." This special pre-order pricing is time-sensitive.
We are only making 975 so order today! Add this very special Havens piece to your collection while also helping a good cause!
Signed and numbered pre-order limited edition of 975 - image size 36"X 48" - enhanced by the artist and printed on canvas. (*comes rolled)
Pre-order price $450. u.s. (reg. $750.)
(Special pre-order VIP pricing of $450 expires November 1st, 2023. )
*SPECIAL NOTE: Once our goal of 100+ of the COOK INLET BELUGA limited edition is met - James Havens will donate the original 16ft oil on canvas to a local non-profit organizations permanent collection to be used as a public education exhibit!
SPECIAL CAUSE
Let's get this original 16ft painting to a new home!
Havens studio is looking for individuals, businesses and corporations to match our donation so we can place this important work in a public non-profit organization's permanent collection as a world class exhibt!
SPECIAL THANKS TO NOAA FISHERIES ALASKA
A very special thank-you to Dr. Jill Seymour and the dedicated team at NOAA FISHERIES ALASKA for partnering with me on COOK INLET BELUGA PROJECT 2023 and all they do day-in and day-out to conserve and protect our wild places! Congratulations! The official annual beluga count event was a huge success!
ABOUT THE COOK INLET BELUGA WHALES
Cook Inlet Belugas live year-round in the muddy waters of Cook Inlet, Alaska, and swim-up silty glacial rivers in search of food. They are genetically different from other beluga whales found in the world. Beluga whales whistle, chirp, click and squeak—earning the moniker “canaries of the sea.” In the United States, these small, white whales can only be seen in Alaska. Of the five populations of belugas in Alaska, the Cook Inlet beluga population is the smallest and the only population that is endangered.
In October 2008, NOAA Fisheries listed Cook Inlet beluga whales as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This species continued a downward population trend and at that time scientists estimated there were only approximately 279 beluga whales in Cook Inlet.
NOAA Fisheries has designated Cook Inlet beluga whales as one of nine “Species in the Spotlight.” These are species in need of a concerted effort by individuals, agencies, groups, tribes, institutions, and organizations large and small to survive. The goal is to have partners and interested members of the public work together to recover this species. Belugas Count! is an event designed to do that.
The continued lack of recovery prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to select this population for its Species in the Spotlight initiative to bring attention and focus to selected domestic marine species at risk of extinction.
GREAT NEWS! NEW 2023 NOAA POPULATION UPDATE!
The new Cook Inlet beluga population estimate is out. The latest estimate (from 2022 data) indicates there are 331 whales in the population, up from 279 in 2018. This increase may indicate that the population is stabilizing, though we’ll need additional years of data on the population size to confirm if that’s the case (and NOAA Fisheries will be continuing to conduct that fieldwork data collection).
OTHER STORIES
Here is a fantastic news story that really explains the what is happening to the Cook Inlet Belugas and why this upcoming project to help raise awarness is so important!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/beluga-whales-alaska-cook-inlet-recovery-1.4308492
Thank you for your support of this very important project! To get involved, register or donate contact James Havens at havensfineart@gmail.com - Cheers!
