One thing for sure, if anybody here seen any, the entire place would turn out with nets, spears, and guns to get as many as they could; no joke.
Perhaps the confusing, fluctuating numbers are because the Cook Inlet population is NOT separate and distinct? Not yet another endangered sub-sub-subspecies?
Cook Inlet does seem like a strange place for them, I got the impression they were High Arctic specialists, that they lived north of the Killer Whale’s range. I knew that they were evolved to operate in shallow waters and at the edge of the floe ice. They have the thickest, toughest skin in all whaledom and can, when stranded by tides, lie comfortably for hours high and dry in the blazing sun. I believe their lack of a dorsal fin combined with the tough hide, enables them to hunt under the sea ice.
But there’s certainly no doubt that this familiar endangered species act two-step is all about locking up Cook Inlet from evil drilling and development.