The Council identified Kvichak beluga research as its top priority two years ago. But paying for the work hit a bureaucratic snag early on. As BBNA Natural Resources Program Director Ralph Andersen explained, "the fish people told us it was a beluga problem, and the beluga people told us it was a fish problem."

In response, Andersen engineered a first-of-its-kind eight-way partnership to launch a first phase of a pilot beluga tagging project, at a cost of $35,000.

The photographs here depict the tagging work made possible through the cooperative efforts of BBNA, BBMMC, the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Beluga Whale Committee, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North Slope Borough and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

ADF&G Biologist Lori Quackenbush volunteered as project coordinator and prepared the study plan approved by representatives of each agency. NMFS and the North Slop Borough's Alaska Beluga Whale Committee, in addition to five beluga satellite radio tags, also provided Charlie Zaccheus of Elim, who BBNA flew in to train first-time beluga wranglers Nick Apokedak, Gusty Tallekpallek and Brian Apokedak of Levelock, and BBNA Special Projects Coordinator Helen Chtyhlook.

One local participant described the tagging project as "exciting and very educational. About the only thing I knew about belugas before was how to cook them!"

Tracking the whales' movements is just the start of assessing the impact they have on Kvichak salmon populations. Future studies objectives include a population assessment, and analysis of the whales' stomach contents to see what they are eating.