Beluga whales in Cook Inlet have been in a long period of decline, about two percent a year. But a new population count points to a reversal. The latest numbers have led researchers to declare the population stable for the first time in decades.

Unidentified sea mammal bones later identified as beluga whale.

Technology has changed, communities have moved, people have grown older, and the beluga whales the Kanigmiut have relied on for generations have all but disappeared.

At Moses Point, Northeast of Elim, we found a dead beluga whale.

With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 beluga whales this season, Wainwright was lucky to caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-highest harvest in more than a decade, according to local hunters.