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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 a public educational outreach tool and partnered with NOAA Fisheries Alaska to help raise awareness to the plight of Alaska’s Cook Inlet Beluga Whales.
Original Available
"Cook Inlet Beluga" original
circa September 1, 2023
Artist; James Havens
Hand painted - Oil on Canvas
Anchorage, Alaska
Size: 10ft X 16ft
"Protecting the Pod: Limited Edition Print for a Cause"
ABOUT
"Join the movement to protect Cook Inlet's majestic beluga whales! This stunning limited edition print, 'Cook Inlet Beluga' by James Havens, not only showcases the beauty of these gentle giants but also supports their conservation. With 20% of proceeds benefiting [Local Beluga Awareness Organization], you'll be contributing to vital research, education, and advocacy efforts.
Title: "Cook Inlet Beluga"
Artist: James Havens
Limited Edition Canvas Print (e.g., 100 prints)
Image Size: [36 X 48]
Price: $450. u.s.
OUR PARTNERS
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 beluga's 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).
PROCESS
Special thanks to our partners!
