Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths [Paperback]

Nancy Lord (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2003

Living in waters adjacent to Anchorage, Alaska, the beluga whales of Cook Inlet are an isolated and genetically distinct population. Thought to number more than 1000 in the early 1990s, a sharp population decline has brought them near extinction. Original in approach and incisive in its questions, Beluga Days explores how conservation laws, management policies, and human behaviors have affected the shrinking beluga population. From hunters, regulators, environmentalists, researchers, and businesspeople to whale enthusiasts, Lord encounters an ongoing debate wrestling with the immediate need to protect the whales, as well as a respect for the centuries-old tradition of Native subsistence hunting. Beyond its compelling characters and particulars, Lord's story offers readers a deeper understanding of the often uncomfortable, often rewarding, juxtaposition of humans and the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her newest, Lord (Green Alaska) pens the trials of the beluga whales-mysterious, graceful creatures in decline everywhere, especially in Cook Inlet, Alaska, where she and her husband fish. She goes on an odyssey, joining conferences that bring together Native hunters with researchers, spending time with marine mammal curators and ecotoxicologists to find out what might be behind the whales' decline and to understand the complex interrelationship between human and animal. The belugas in Cook Inlet are genetically isolated, not migrating as others do. She spots a pod swimming like "white wheels turning," an apt metaphor for Lord's own meditative writing style. Later she finds that belugas, "sophisticated at echolocation," are able in captivity to imitate the sounds of their tanks with "creaks like doors opening on rusty hinges and high-pitched electronic wheezes." She ably narrates the history of beluga and whale hunting, recounting the change from early days of trophy hunting (with souvenir bottles of whale oil) to today's subsistence hunting in Tyonek by the Dena'ina Natives. With skillful writing and respect for all her subjects, Lord presents some of the agonizing scientific and cultural dilemmas of saving these animals. For example, Dena'ina believe that use of the whales is part of a cycle: "If a plant were harvested for food and its unused parts respectfully returned to earth, the old Dena'ina believed, the plant would grow in greater numbers. But if the plant were not used, its numbers would diminish." Lord ends with a powerful though measured call for the human species to take heed of the beluga, as one of nature's great teachers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Writer and commercial fisherman Lord has been observing beluga whales for years, and when the population began to decline in the 1990s, she decided to look into the causes. In an intriguing blend of scientific writing and impassioned journal of discovery, the author tells of her discussions with the people involved in all levels of the search for the cause of the belugas' decrease. Talks with environmentalists, who tended to be territorial and not prone to work together; Alaskan Natives, whose aboriginal hunting rights were blamed for the decline; and scientists, who also blamed pollution, disturbance, and habitat destruction, reveal a complex web of causes for the loss of the belugas. Lord's personal activism shines through in her account but does not prejudice or visibly color her description of other points of view. This story of a population of whales and the evolution of an environmentalist will get readers to think about the relationship between humans and the natural world. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (December 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582431515
• ISBN-13: 978-1582431512
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new kind of nature writing, June 8, 2004

By 

spaceboy from Saturn "the_i_man" (Wine Country) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths (Paperback)

As has been noted elsewhere, this is a new kind of nature writing, where the beluga whales of Alaska share their realm with Caucasian and Native communities. It not only describes the existence of belugas in their habitat, but also how human society works to protect, and occasionally, fail to protect, the belugas. The author is unsentimental but sympathetic in describing all the players in this drama: sympathetic to the needs of Native societies, sympathetic to the well-intentioned staff of various state bureaus and NGOs trying to protect the beluga, and sympathetic in a non-anthrocentric way to the plight of the belugas. This is an entirely satisfying read with no obvious defects to detract from a 5 star rating.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beluga Days, November 28, 2005

By 

christine (Cape Cod MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths (Paperback)

Beluga Days takes an in-depth look at the plight of a distinct population of beluga whales in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Plauged by over-hunting, these whales have fallen from a population of approximately one thousand animals in 1990 to an estimated two hundred fifty today. The book discusses the politics of regulating native hunting, the difficulties of getting the whales placed on the endangered species list, and the pros and cons of placing belugas in captivity. Lord herself is a salmon fishermman who is familiar with the Cook Inlet region and the ecosystem which exists there. She has observed the steady decline of the belugas from her own home and explores the reasons for their decline and the whales themselves in Beluga Days. Lord witnesses a native beluga hunt, helps perform research on the slaughtered whales, and spends getting to know the natives involved in the hunt and the importance of the beluga to their society. She also encounters belugas from places other than Alaska by visiting captive belugas in Chicago and going out on a research vessel to observe the ailing population of the St. Lawrence estuary in Quebec.
Lord has managed to write an extremely informative novel without making it too complex or "wordy," as is the case with many science and nature-based works. Her style of writing held my interest but still relayed information. I also appreciated the unbiased point of view from which she writes. Lord obviously wants the population to thrive once more in Cook Inlet, but she also understands the significance of native hunting and discusses different opinions on the best ways to save this population.
One thing about Beluga Days which I disliked was the monotony of its having such a finite subject matter. The majority of this novel discusses only one distinct population and the information starts to seem repetitive after reading for long periods of time. This makes Beluga Days a difficult novel to read in one sitting.
Although this book would not be of interest to everyone I would recommend it to anyone interested in cetaceans or nature in general. At some points it may be easier to comprehend with some previous knowledge of whales, but is written simply enough so that most people can appreciate it.

3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe Just a Little More Clarification, February 12, 2009

By 

John Galluzzo (Weymouth, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beluga Days: Tracking a White Whale's Truths (Paperback)

The author goes to great lengths, traveling great distances, to learn everything she can about the beluga whale. She begins at her own fishing camp watching dwindling numbers of the mystical marine mammal as it passes her section of Alaskan shore, and begins to wonder where the great pods have gone. She visits with many of the players in the beluga conservation-extinction battle, from National Marine Fisheries Service personnel to native hunters to everyone in between.

At times, it's hard to figure the author's position. Does she support the hunt for beluga whales, or does she want it stopped to save the species? Does she believe in the sanctity of native traditions, no matter what they are? And why does she tell us, not once, but twice that she "kills" salmon for a living? Is she unsure of how she really feels about the slaughter of a whale, even if it is for subsistence, especially in a place like a tiny Alaskan village where one dead whale puts food in the bellies of an entire community?

The author paints the picture of Alaskan life well, and reaches deeply into the natural history of the beluga whale. This book fills the bill for someone interested in the white whale's story, and shows just how many sides there are to the political struggle to keep an animal species alive.