The beluga whale, a critical part of the arctic ecosystem and an essential element of traditional Alaskan ways of life, is still poorly understood. A recent collaborative effort between scientists and Alaska Native hunters in northwestern Alaska showed surprising evidence that beluga whales travel far further north than had been previously thought. Scientists and hunters worked together to tag whales with transmitters. Satellites were used to receive the signals from whales traveling hundreds of miles into very dense pack ice. There are at least 65,000 beluga whales in four stocks in arctic Alaska. More than forty villages rely on the whales for subsistence in hunts managed by the Alaska Beluga Whale Committee and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
