Cook Inletkeeper

Cook Inletkeeper is a non-profit water conservation and ecology organization based in Homer, Alaska. Their stated goal is "promoting sound public policies that protect fish habitat and water quality; and holding individuals, industry and agencies accountable for habitat, water quality and human health in the Cook Inlet watershed. " The organization was founded in 1994 with funds from a legal settlement involving oil companies that extracted resources from Cook Inlet. They are part of the Waterkeeper Alliance. They were involved in pressuring the National [Marine Fisheries Service] to list the Cook Inlet population of beluga whales as endangered. They have also been active in opposing open-pit mining in the Cook Inlet area. They also manage a water quality laboratory in Homer that monitors 240 sites around Cook Inlet. In 2005, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke in support of their efforts at the group's ten-year anniversary celebration. He stated that "The fish in that inlet belongs to the people. Everybody has a right to use them. Nobody has a right to use them in a way that will diminish or injure their use and enjoyment by others."