AbStTelCt. — Fishery observers 

 aboard foreign commercial fishing 

 vessels collected information on the 

 incidental catch of marine mammals 

 in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 

 off the northeastern United States 

 since March 1977. Observer cover- 

 age on foreign vessels was 25-35% 

 dm-ing 1977-82, and incre^ised to 58%, 

 86%. 95%, 98%, 100%, and 100%, 

 respectively, in 1983-88. Dm-ing 1981- 

 88, observers have covered most joint- 

 venture fishing operations. During 

 1977-88, observers reported 538 ma- 

 rine mammals captured incidental to 

 direct and joint-venture fishing activ- 

 ities. Eight cetacean species and 

 three unidentified baleen whales 

 were cauglit, principally in the fish- 

 eries for Atlantic mackerel Scomber 

 scombms, and squid Illex illecebrosus 

 and Loligo pealei. Pilot whales Globi- 

 cephala spp. (297/538) and common 

 dolphins Delphinus delphis (203/538) 

 comprised 93% of the catch. Chi- 

 square tests indicate that significant 

 differences in diel rates of capture 

 occurred between the two species. 

 The number of Globicephnla spp. 

 captured at night (2000-0400 h) in 

 the Atlantic mackerel fishery was 

 significantly less (j- = 8.28, P<0.03) 

 than the number caught during day 

 (0800-1(500 h) or dawn/dusk (1600- 

 2000 h, 0400-0800 h). The number 

 of D. delphis captured during day- 

 light in the Loligo squid fishery was 

 significantly less (x- = 44.48, P < 

 0.001) than the number caught at 

 night or dawn/dusk. A minke whale 

 B. acutorostmta (released alive) and 

 individuals of two endangered spe- 

 cies, a humpback whale Megaptera 

 novaeangliiic (released alive) and a 

 right whale Eubalaena glacialis, 

 were also captured incidental to fish- 

 ing activity. Dui'ing December 1986-. 

 February 1988, observers collected 

 whole, dead, non-endangered mam- 

 mals for detailed shoreside e.xamina- 

 tion. Trawl contents at the time of 

 capture and subsequent analysis of 

 mammal stomach contents suggest 

 that L. pealei is a major component 

 of the mid-shelf and shelf-edge diet 

 of common dolphins and pilot whales. 

 Further, pilot whales, considered prin- 

 cipally as teuthophagous, were ob- 

 served to selectively feed on mack- 

 erel while (in the Continental Shelf. 



Manuscript accepted 16 January 1990. 

 Fishery Bulletin, U.S. 88:347-360. 



Incidental Take of Marine 

 Mammals in Foreign Fishery 

 Activities Off the Mortheast 

 United States, 1977-88 



Gordon T. Waring 

 Patricia Gerrior 



Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 



P. Michael Payne 



Manomet Bird Observatory, Manomet, Massachusetts 02345 



Betsy L. Parry 



Department of Land i'Jesources, Institute of Environmental Studies 

 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53715 



John R. Nicolas 



Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 



Marine mammal/fishery interactions 

 in United States waters have received 

 widespread attention in recent years 

 (Bonner 1982, Fowler 1982, Lowry 

 1982, Loughlin et al. 1983, Loughlin 

 and Nelson 1986). These interactions, 

 generally involving commercial fish- 

 eries (Mate 1980), are of two types: 

 (1) direct or operational, and (2) in- 

 direct or ecological (Lowry 1982). 



In the shelf waters off the north- 

 eastern United States, marine mam- 

 mal/commercial fishery interactions 

 have been described only for fisheries 

 occurring in nearshore waters (Gil- 

 bert and Wynne 1985). These interac- 

 tions occur in the fixed-gear fisheries 

 for American lobster Homwrus ameri- 

 ciutus, the surface-gillnet fishery for 

 Atlantic herring Clupea harengus 

 and Atlantic mackerel Scomber scotn- 

 brus, and the groundfish-gillnet fish- 

 ery for assorted finfish, principally 

 Gadidae and Pleuronectidae. Two 

 principal marine mammals taken in- 

 cidentally in these fisheries are the 

 harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena 

 and the harbor seal Phoca vitulirta. 



The gray seal Halichoerus grypus is 

 infrequently captiu'ed. These three spe- 

 cies are known to feed on fish caught 

 in nets and to tecome entangled, there- 

 by damaging fishing gear. 



Marine mammal/fishery interactions 

 in the deeper, offshore waters off the 

 northeastern United States have not 

 been previously documented. Under 

 the provisions of the United States 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 (MMPA) of 1972 a General Permit 

 system was established by the Nation- 

 al Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 

 allowing incidental taking of marine 

 manmials in commercial fishing oj)er- 

 ations. All domestic and foreign fish- 

 ing vessels were required to have a 

 valid permit on board that established 

 an allowable limit on the number of 

 non-endangered marine mammals that 

 could be taken within a specified fish- 

 ery (i.e., mackerel, squid). The Mag- 

 nuson Fishery Conservation and Man- 

 agement Act of 1976 as amended in 

 1983, (MFCMA, Public Law 94-265) 

 mandated the placement of Fisheries 

 Compliance Inspectors, or observers. 



347 



