Evaluation of beluga whales in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, as a demographically independent population

Recent revisions to the U.S. Guidelines for Preparing Stock Assessment Reports Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) included the need to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into the demographically independent population (DIP) delineation and stock assessment processes when these marine mammal populations are co-managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Alaska Native organizations. The MMPA directs NMFS to use the “best scientific information available” to assess stocks, and by extension, to delineate DIPs. Guidance exists for the incorporation of lines of evidence for DIP designation based on morphology, genetics, movements, distributional hiatuses or low-density areas, contaminants, stable isotopes and fatty acids, life history, trends in abundance, physiographic or oceanographic differences in habitat, association data, and acoustics, but not for Indigenous Knowledge. This evaluation is the first to incorporate Indigenous Knowledge within the framework of the DIP delineation process. Multiple information sources, including Indigenous Knowledge, subsistence harvest, sightings data