Marine Wildlife

Conservation groups sue to protect Arctic marine mammals

Two conservation groups are challenging the Bush administration's recent decision to let oil companies unintentionally harass or harm polar bears and walruses in the growing pursuit of fossil fuels off the northwestern Alaska coast.

Group on the lookout for line-tangled whale

Whale-watchers are keeping a vigil over the Strait of Juan de Fuca in northwest Washington state for a young humpback whale entangled in crab lines.

Steller'sea Lion research calculates survival rates

Researchers aboard the F/V Norseman departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on June 24 on a voyage to monitor Steller's sea lion populations.

Groups sue to force decision on belugas

Five conservation groups have sued the federal government for delaying a listing of Cook Inlet beluga whales under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Island junkyards: Debris fouls fur seal haulouts

Huge, whiskered male fur seals called "beach masters" are back on St. Paul Island after swimming a gantlet of lost or discarded fishing gear floating in the Bering Sea.

Photos: Marine life

Group seeks protection for Arctic seals

Fresh off a successful campaign to list polar bears as a threatened species, a conservation group Wednesday petitioned to get Endangered Species Act protections for the bears' main prey because of global warming.

Group will sue to list walrus as threatened

A conservation group gave notice Tuesday that it will sue to force federal action on a petition to list the Pacific walrus as a threatened species because of threats from global warming and offshore petroleum development.

Decision to list Cook Inlet belugas delayed

The federal Fisheries Service announced Monday it wants one more population estimate on Cook Inlet beluga whales before deciding on their status.

Federal plan would open whale habitat to drilling

The Bush administration took a first step Tuesday toward allowing oil and gas leasing in an area of the Bering Sea considered important for the recovery of the world's most endangered whale.

Photos: Marine life

NOAA will consider listing ribbon seals

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday it will consider Endangered Species Act protections for ribbon seals in the Bering Sea, plus three other seal species that rely on sea ice for survival.

Scientists finally see rumored white orca

A white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and their ship's crew scrambling for their cameras.

Ribbon seal may be early warming victim, group says

The Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday filed a 91-page petition with the National Marine Fisheries Service to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered because the seals� habitat � sea ice � is disappearing due to climate change brought on by humans.

Seal in Seward rehab is released

COLD BAY -- A 250-pound ribbon seal that was in rehab at the SeaLife Center in Seward has been released, the Coast Guard said Friday.

Western Steller sea lion numbers holding steady

The number of endangered Steller sea lions along a long stretch of Alaska coastline remains stagnant, federal scientists said Tuesday.

Humpback, fin whales observed in the Arctic Ocean

Endangered humpback whales swam into the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's northern coast this summer, far beyond their usual range, but federal officials monitoring the waters say it's too soon to determine if it's a trend or an anomaly.

Bering Sea search finds no endangered right whales

Scientists searching for what is likely the world's most endangered whale came up empty-handed this summer during a one-month tour of an area in the Bering Sea where Pacific right whales like to feed.

Walruses flee shrinking ice for shoreline

Thousands of walruses since late summer have congregated in haulouts on Alaska's northwest shore, a phenomenon likely connected to record low Arctic sea ice.

40-foot humpback whale now a teaching tool

UNALASKA -- Officials are hoping to use a 40-foot dead humpback off Amaknak Island as an educational tool.

Gray whales are skin and bones

Researchers off Mexico's Pacific coast have observed what might be a case of global warming's effects in the far north: gray whales returning to calving grounds malnourished.

Oil drilling in Bering Sea may hurt endangered right whales

Scientists are hunting for one of the most precariously positioned animals on the planet -- Pacific right whales. The search for the slow-moving behemoths is being prompted by the search for a less rare but increasingly valuable commodity -- oil and gas i

Beluga bounty in the Arctic

With the surprise appearance of hundreds of belugas in the Kotzebue region in July, residents took to the beaches and harvested as many as 70 whales. And that sparked a local debate: Did they take too many?

Belugas as endangered species