To understand if belugas in Alaska all belong to the same population (stock), ABWC has sponsored both genetic and satellite tagging studies. Differences in mitochondrial DNA led to the identification of five genetically distinct stocks in Alaska and one in Russia. Satellite tagging studies support these differences and show that belugas in each stock summer (Figure 1) and winter (Figure 2) in separate areas. The five Alaskan stocks are named after their summer ranges and are known as the 1) Cook Inlet, 2) Bristol Bay (BB), 3) eastern Bering Sea, 4) eastern Chukchi Sea, and 5) Beaufort Sea stocks.
Recent work by ABWC suggests that there was another stock in Kotzebue Sound that is now depleted.
Belugas are also harvested in Kuskokwim Bay; we are not yet sure what stock these belugas belong to.
Determining stock structure is a primary research goal of ABWC and work is ongoing.
For more information on the stock structure work ABWC has sponsored:
Citta JJ, Richard PR, Lowry LF, O’Corry-Crowe G, Marcoux M, Suydam R, Quakenbush LT, Hobbs RC, Litovka DI, Frost KJ, Gray T, Orr J, Tinker B, Aderman H, Drukenmiller ML. 2016. Satellite telemetry reveals population specific winter ranges of beluga whales in the Bering Sea. Marine Mammal Science 33:236–250. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12357
Hauser, DW, Laidre KL, Suydam RS, Richard PR. 2014. Population-specific home ranges and migration timing of Pacific Arctic beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). Polar Biology 27:1171-1183.
Lowry LF, Citta JJ, O’corry-Crowe G, Quakenbush LT, Frost KJ, Suydam R, Hobbs RC. 2019. Distribution, abundance, harvest, and status of western Alaska beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, stocks. Marine Fisheries Review. 81, 54-71. https://doi.org/10.7755/MFR.81.3–4.2
O’Corry-Crowe G, Ferrer T, Citta JJ, Suydam R, Quakenbush L, Burns JJ, Monroy J, Whiting A, Seaman G, Goodwin W, Meyer M, Rodgers S, Frost KJ. 2021. Genetic history of stock identify of beluga whales in Kotzebue sound. Polar Research. Special Issue on beluga whales. Polar Research 2021, 40, 7623. https://dx.doi.org/10.33265/polar.v40.7623
O’Corry-Crowe G, Suydam R, Quakenbush L, Potgieter B, Harwood L, Litovka D, Ferrer T, Citta J, Burkanov V, Frost K, Mahoney B. 2018. Migratory culture, population structure and stock identity in North Pacific beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). PLOS ONE 13(3): e0194201. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194201
O’Corry-Crowe, G.M., Suydam, R.S., Rosenberg, A., Frost, K.J., and Dizon, A.E. 1997. Phylogeography, population structure and dispersal patterns of the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas in the western Nearctic revealed by mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Ecology 6:955-970. Suydam RS, Lowry, LF, Frost KJ. 2005. Distribution and movements of beluga whales from the Eastern Chukchi Sea stock during summer and early autumn. OCS Study MMS 2005-035 Final Report, 48 pp.