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The Minerals Management Service's DEIS on the proposed 

 sale noted that six species of pinnipeds and 27 species of 

 cetaceans, including seven endangered species of whales and 

 the rare Guadalupe fur seal, occur in the proposed lease 

 area. The DEIS identified potential low-level impacts on 

 both endangered and non-endangered species that could result 

 from the installation of seven additional oil-drilling 

 platforms in the area. The DEIS also indicated that the 

 cumulative effects of the proposed action, prior lease 

 sales, and tanker traffic from other areas may result in 

 very high impacts on northern fur seals and low-to-moderate 

 impacts on gray whales and possibly on other endangered 

 whales . 



The Commission, in consultation with its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors, commented to the Minerals Management 

 Service on 2 5 August 1983, noting that the DEIS did not 

 provide an accurate description of the marine mammal fauna 

 in the leasing area or a clear and well-reasoned assessment 

 of possible direct and indirect effects on endangered or 

 non-endangered species or populations in or near the leasing 

 area. 



With respect to threatened and endangered marine mammal 

 populations, the Commission noted that most, if not all, of 

 the questions and issues concerning possible effects would 

 presumably be addressed during the formal Section 7 consultations 

 between the Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which were then ongoing. 

 Since similar questions and issues concern possible effects 

 on non-endangered and non- threatened marine mammals, particularly 

 northern fur seals, the Commission recommended that, if the 

 Service had not already done so, it consult with the staff 

 of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries 

 Center, as well as other knowledgeable persons, to better 

 determine the possible direct and indirect effects on non- 

 endangered pinnipeds and cetaceans in and near the proposed 

 lease sale area. 



Proposed PCS Lease Sale #82 

 North Atlantic 



Proposed Sale #82 involves 4,366 tracts (approximately 

 25 million acres) of submerged lands off the U.S. northeast 

 coast between Maine and New Jersey. Although the sale was 

 originally scheduled for February 1984, it has been postponed 

 indefinitely, pending review within the Department of the 

 Interior. 



