Satellite telemetry studies have shown that across their global range, Beluga Whales exhibit highly variable movement patterns and differences in habitat selection (Martin et al. 1993, Richard et al. 1997, Lydersen et al. 2001, Hobbs et al. 2019). These include populations that occupy nearshore habitats (e.g. shallow bays and estuaries) in summer and make long migrations to wintering grounds (Martin et al. 1993). In contrast, other populations occur further offshore in deep water during summer (Richard et al. 1997). There are also differences in preference in ice cover with some populations remaining in open water with low pack ice cover to populations which can move through areas of high ice coverage (Barber et al. 2001, Suydam et al. 2001).

The Beluga Whales of the Svalbard archipelago do not exhibit large-scale migrations. During summer the beluga whales in this area are known to select habitats near tidal glacial fronts that are thought to provide higher concentrations of prey species of polar cod (Boreogadus saida) and capelin (Mallotus villosus) (Lydersen et al. 2001, Vacquié-Garcia et al. 2018). Movements between habitat patches are characterised by rapid transit via coastal corridors, a behaviour trait assumed to be a predatory avoidance tactic (avoiding killer whales (Orcinus orca) in open water) (Lydersen et al. 2001). In winter with increasing ice coverage in coastal waters, beluga whales move further offshore to the east of the archipelago, remaining in areas of high ice coverage (90%). The selection of high ice coverage habitats may also be a predatory avoidance tactic (Lydersen et al. 2001).

The effects of global climate change have been most pronounced in the Arctic (Stroeve et al. 2007) and in 2006, there was a collapse in the sea ice regime off Svalbard, which has persisted (Muckenhuber et al. 2016). In response to these changing environmental conditions, tracked male Beluga Whales off Svalbard exhibited a change in habitat selection, spending less time in front of tidal glacial fronts and more time in open fjord waters (Vacquié-Garcia et al. 2018). This shift in habitat selection likely represents the species adapting to the new regime and a generalisation of prey items in response to warming waters and the abundance of boreal species.

Satellite telemetry tracking of belugas in the White Sea demonstrated that a large proportion of the population remains in the area year-round, contrary to previous assumptions of the White Sea providing only a summer habitat for the species (Kuznetsova et al. 2016). During summer, Beluga Whales of the Wite Sea are known to form spatially distinct aggregations that are important for breeding and calf rearing (Chernetsky et al. 2002, Krasnova et al. 2012, Chernetsky and Krasnova, 2018). There are eight recognised summer aggregations located in the Ogena, Dvine and Mezen bays (Chernetsky et al. 2002). The most famous and well-studied of these aggregations is that off Solovetsky Island, located within the Ogena Bay (Chernetsky et al. 2011, Krasnova et al. 2012, Chernetsky and Krasnova, 2018). Photo-identification of individual belugas at this site identified a complex community structure consisting of residents which showed high levels of site fidelity and non-resident animals; males ranged more widely compared to females (Krasnova et al. 2012).

There are little available data on the habitat selection and ecology of the Barents-Kara-Laptev stock. Belugas identified off Franz Joseph Land in summer are associated with the coastal waters of the archipelago. These animals likely migrate south to over-wintering grounds west of Novaya Zemlya (Hobbs et al. 2019). There are no known migration routes or overwintering grounds of the Kara and Laptev Sea belugas or whether they enter European waters.

Beluga Whales have a discontinuous circumpolar distribution occupying artic and subarctic waters. Within European Seas, Beluga Whales occur in the Barents Sea (specifically in the coastal waters of Svalbard, Franz Joseph Land, Novaya Zemlya, and North-western Russia) and the White Sea. There are reports of belugas off the east coast of Greenland and vagrant animals in southern waters off the coast of Iceland, Faroe Islands, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Netherlands, and Denmark.

Outside of European waters Beluga Whales occur in Kara and Laptev Seas of Northern Russia and off Eastern Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and West Greenland with belugas present in the Sea of Okhotsk; the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas; Cook Inlet; the Hudson Bay; and Baffin Bay.

Beluga Whales are protected species in Norway (Svalbard).

Listed on appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) as they require international agreements for their conservation and management.