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Restrictions on activities in areas designated as critical habitat for endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales may not be as "onerous" as many have feared, according to an administrator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.

"This is another veneer of federal bureaucracy," said Brad Smith, a biologist with the fisheries service. "Any time someone puts a line on a map, it's significant ... but we're not establishing this to be a wilderness."

Smith presented the methodology used by the fisheries service to determine critical habitat for Cook Inlet belugas to a small crowd in Kenai Thursday. Smith also presented information on the economic impact of the critical habitat designation, as well as the potential impact on activities in critical habitat areas.

The fisheries service has proposed beluga critical habitat to encompass upper Cook Inlet, from just south of Kalgin Island north to and encompassing Knik and Turnagain arms, as well as Kachemak Bay and a three-mile wide strip along the western shore of Cook Inlet.

In a nutshell, Smith said that if a federal permitting agency does not deem an activity to have any impact on beluga whale habitat, there would be no review by the fisheries service, and no restrictions on that activity.

Smith called the phrase "critical habitat" unfortunately worded, and said there is a great deal of misunderstanding about what the designation means.

Critical habitat is defined as the "physical and biological features essential to the conservation of the species," under the Endangered Species Act.

"Those 'physical and biological features' are going to be the coinage we use when we evaluate projects," Smith said.

Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act addresses the standards to be used by federal agencies when looking at activities. The "jeopardy standard" pertains to the endangered animal -- does an activity harm or harass the animal? -- while "adverse modification" pertains to habitat -- does an activity change the habitat in a manner that discourages the animal from using an area?

If a federal agency tasked with permitting an activity determines it would not impact habitat, Smith said there would be no consultation with the fisheries service.

The next stage, if there's a risk of impacting habitat, would be an informal consultation, in which Smith said recommendation would be made to modify any proposed activity, for example, limiting pile driving when beluga whales are present.

If it is determined that a project could not go forward without adversely affecting habitat, a formal consultation would take place, and the fisheries service would issue a biological opinion.

Smith said biologists have been able to determine the general distribution of whales in the inlet with aerial surveys conducted every June, as well as information from satellite tagging and traditional knowledge from Alaska Natives, particularly in Tyonek. They have found that belugas could be present in any part of their Cook Inlet range at any time of year, though they tend to spend a great deal of time in the upper inlet.

The congregate around the mouths of the region's medium- to high-flow anadromous streams, and are particularly attracted to stream mouths and estuaries that include an area of mud flats.

Biologists took into account noise (belugas use sound more than other whales, Smith said), water quality, access between habitat areas, water turbidity (belugas seem to favor cloudy water), and escape terrain (places to hide from predators such as orcas) when determining which areas of the inlet should be designated as critical habitat. Also considered was the whales' primary prey -- king, sockeye, chum and coho salmon, and eulachon -- as determined by stomach samples from harvested whales and analysis of the whales' blubber.

Smith an area could be excluded from the critical habitat designation if the cost of including the area is more than the cost of excluding it -- meaning economists and biologists would have to put a monetary value on a beluga whale to make that determination.

Smith said the economic analysis, required as part of a critical habitat designation, estimated that the cost of the designation would be $187,000 to $571,000, with 86 percent of that expected in the upper inlet.

In the proposed critical habitat designation, no areas are excluded for economic reasons. One area, the Eagle River Firing Range on Fort Richardson, is excluded because it is on Department of Defense property, and the governing agency has a plan in place for managing beluga whales.

Critical habitat comment period extended

The comment period for Cook Inlet beluga whale critical habitat designation has been extended to March 3.

Send comments to Kaja Brix, Assistant Regional Administrator, Protected Resources, Alaska Region, NMFS, ATTN: Ellen Sebastian.

Comments, identified by "RIN 0648-AX50," may be submitted by any one of the following methods:

* Electronic submissions: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal website at http://www.regulations.gov.

* Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK, 99802-1668.

* Fax: 907-586-7557

* Hand deliver to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th Street, Room 420A, Juneau.

Public hearings on the critical habitat designation are tentatively scheduled for Feb. 3 at the borough building in Soldotna, and Feb. 4 at the Islands and Oceans Center in Homer. For more information, visit http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/.

Will Morrow can be reached at will.morrow@peninsulaclarion.com.