Alaskans harvest beached beluga

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Several dead beluga whales washed ashore recently in Alaska after dozens were temporarily stranded on mud flats during low tide. The dead whales were among 46 beluga that were grounded at a bay about 60 km southeast of Anchorage.

The survivors swam out with the high tide, but hunters salvaged blubber and meat from the beached whales.

The whales were beached at least a half mile on the flats. They were scattered over a mile area and unreachable because of water channels in the flats.

Meat from the stranded beluga was sent to elders. One Inupiat mother canned some for her son, a serviceman in Iraq.

The beluga belong to a genetically isolated population of about 350 beluga in the Cook Inlet that are registered as depleted under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Native hunters can take only one or two whales per year under an agreement with the federal government.