Planning and preparation for field studies are underway as part of the Polar Bear and White Whale programmes implemented by the regional public organisation Marine Mammal Council (MMC) and supported by the Russian Geographical Society.

The White Whale Programme continues the research started by the MMC in 1995. The project aims at studying the environment as well as the spatial and temporal structure of the population of white whales in the western sector of the Russian Arctic (the White Sea, Barents Sea and Kara Sea). Vsevolod Belkovich, member of the MMC Board, supervises the implementation of the project.