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Alaska Beluga Monitoring Partnership

Dear AKBMP Volunteers,

On behalf of all of our partners, I'd like to thank you for making our first collaborative monitoring season such an incredible success! It's because of your hard work and dedication that we were able to consistently document beluga activity across five known beluga foraging sites in Cook Inlet. The data that you collected is currently being analyzed and summarized in a report that will present our Fall 2019 season findings. Upon completion, this report and our database will be shared with beluga researchers and managers in the region to inform ongoing beluga research and conservation efforts. This report will also be available to the public and will be posted on the AKBMP website in late December.

Given the success of this season, we are planning to monitor again in Spring 2020. We will be posting updates on our plans for our spring monitoring season on our website and Facebook Page as they develop. We hope you'll consider participating in our program again next season!

Before you go, please continue scrolling down to read the results of our Fall 2019 monitoring season and other announcements.

Sincerely,

The AKBMP Team

The Results of our Fall 2019 Monitoring Season Are In


Between August 15-November 2, 2019 AKBMP volunteers conducted 269 beluga monitoring sessions across five monitoring sites in Cook Inlet (amounting to 545 hours of monitoring). Way to go everyone! Belugas were observed during 143 monitoring sessions and on 73 separate days during the monitoring season. Overall, our volunteers observed 230 groups of beluga whales (totaling 1609 belugas sighted). Keep in mind that these figures include many repeat sightings of the same individuals as the Cook Inlet beluga population only contains an estimated 328 whales. Of the groups we observed, 147 were exposed to one type of human activity and 39 were exposed to two or more types of human activities over the course of a session. Below is a break down of our monitoring results by site. SPUE stands for Sightings Per Unit Effort.

Ship Creek:
  • 77 sessions conducted
  • 23 beluga groups observed (totaling 75 belugas sighted)
  • SPUE hours: .5

Bird Point / Mile Marker 95.2 Pullout:
  • 68 sessions conducted
  • 127 beluga groups observed (totaling 978 belugas sighted)
  • SPUE hours: 8.41

Twentymile River:
  • 36 sessions conducted
  • 32 beluga groups observed (totaling 170 belugas sighted)
  • SPUE hours: 2.5

Kenai River:
  • 73 sessions conducted
  • 48 beluga groups observed (totaling 386 belugas sighted)
  • SPUE hours: 2.31

Kasilof River:
  • 15 sessions conducted
  • No belugas observed

The AKBMP Coordinator Role Changes Hands

At the end of November I (Kim Ovitz) will be stepping down as the AKBMP Citizen Science Monitoring Coordinator as I transition into a doctoral program in Canada. While I regret that I won't be coordinating our Spring 2020 monitoring program, I know that our next coordinator is going to do a fantastic job! Before I go, I want to personally thank all of you for making this such a rewarding experience for me. Six months ago I could have never imagined that we would have so many dedicated volunteers monitoring on such a regular basis. Until next time!

The AKBMP welcomes Madison Kosma who will be our new Citizen Science Monitoring Coordinator! Some of you may have already met Madison out in the field. Madison has been involved in whale research in Southeast Alaska since 2012 and has most recently been exploring humpback whale foraging tactics near salmon hatchery-release sites. Madison is an Alaska Sea Grant Fellow with the NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Anchorage and is excited to be taking on the AKBMP Coordinator role!

Tell us how we can improve our monitoring program!


We would love to hear your feedback about what you think worked well this season and how you think we can improve our monitoring program. If you have a few minutes to spare, please complete our brief volunteer feedback form (link below). We'll do our best to incorporate your suggestions into our Spring 2020 monitoring program.
 
Give Us Your Feedback

Are you interested in monitoring this winter?


We've heard from a few volunteers that are interested in continuing to monitor periodically throughout the winter. All of us at AKBMP applaud your dedication! Although we will not be posting any monitoring schedules again until early spring, we will keep our online data form accessible online. If you do monitor this winter, please continue to record your data on our AKBMP data sheets and submit your data as usual into our online form. Please also remember to upload a copy of your data forms into our archive folder or hold onto them so that we can collect them from you at a later date. Stay warm out there!

We can't wait until we see you again in the spring!

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The Alaska Beluga Monitoring Partnership is a collaboration of federal agency, non-profit and other partners that facilitate citizen science beluga monitoring in Alaska's Cook Inlet. Please visit our website to learn more about our partnership and monitoring program.

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Alaska Beluga Monitoring Partnership · Rezanof Circle · Anchorage, Ak 99507 · USA

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