Saturday, October 25, 2008

Good News Today : Beluga Whales

SAVED: the last 375 beluga whales of Alaska's Cook Inlet


The National Marine Fisheries Service has decided to place these imperiled whales, which is one of the smallest populations of marine mammals left on Earth, on the endangered species list.

This is a huge win for beluga whales, whose population has been reduced due to the industrialization of Alaska's most populated and fastest-growing waterway.

This was a huge win for the NRDC Action Fund as well. Messages sent through NRDC email system accounted for two-thirds of the 180,000 comments received.

The Bush Administration tried to stall, but NRDC and 10 other conservation groups filed suit and put a halt to the administration’s delays.

The beluga's newly won protection will help scientists study and mitigate many dangers now facing the whales: oil and gas exploration, increased pollution, and plans for massive new projects that could endanger the whales' survival.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First congrats for nice photo. I agree that beluga whales population is declining and this move will really help it to restore it's population

Anonymous said...

This is great! I have been to Alaska many times and every time I go I can see how tourism and other economic expansion has changed the feel of the land. It is getting too commercial and it seems that wildlife, although still rampant and widespread, is loosing land and it is important to utilize efforts to make sure this does not happen! Alaska is the last TRUE frontier and it is the US's job to keep it unadulterated.