UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN ... - Bizjournals

Case 1:13-cv-03241-AT Document 1 Filed 09/30/13 Page 38 of 64mtDNA data indicate the beluga whales in individual bays in the Shantar andSakhalin-Amur areas are not genetically distinct groups and that beluga whales inthe Shantar and Sakhalin-Amur regions comprise one genetic stock. This meansthat calculation of a PBR should use the number of whales in the entire populationof the Shantar and Sakhalin-Amur region.74. The genetic data are confirmed by satellite tagging data which showthat beluga whales that summer in the Sakhalin-Amur region spend the winter inthe central Sea of Okhotsk. Many experts believe beluga whales that summer inthe Shantar region also spend their winter in the central Sea of Okhotsk. Thebreeding season occurs while the whales are in the winter and spring grounds. Thesatellite tagging data also revealed that two of the 12 whales (17%) that had beentagged during the summer in the Sakhalin-Amur region were resighted the nextsummer in the Shantar region. This is direct evidence that beluga whales moveamong the Shantar and Sakhalin-Amur regions and that both areas should beconsidered as one group for the calculation of PBR. In addition, all of the whalestagged during the summer in the Sakhalin-Amur region spent the fall in the Shantarregion before moving north to the wintering grounds.38