under the Council's jurisdiction. As part of this effort, 

 the Commission and the Council jointly supported a workshop 

 in October 1983 to review available information concerning 

 biological interactions among marine mammals and commercial 

 fisheries in the southeastern Bering Sea. Papers presented 

 during the Workshop indicated significant potential for inter- 

 actions between the following marine mammals and fisheries: 



North Pacific fur seal groundfish, capelin, squid, 



herring 

 Northern sea lion groundfish, herring, capelin, 



salmon 

 Harbor seal groundfish, herring, capelin, 



salmon 

 Spotted seal groundfish, herring, capelin 



Beluga whale salmon, herring, capelin 



Harbor porpoise groundfish, herring, capelin 



Dall's porpoise salmon 



Killer whale salmon 



Gray whale salmon 



Fin whale herring 



Minke whale herring 



Workshop participants concluded that available information 

 was generally insufficient to estimate accurately the impacts 

 of the interactions on the affected fisheries, fish stocks, 

 or marine mammals. They identified the types of research and 

 monitoring programs that would be necessary to determine the 

 nature, magnitude, and impacts of the interactions. 



Northern Sea Lion/Fisherv Interactions 



As noted in Chapter II of this Report, comparison of 

 data from northern sea lion surveys conducted in the 1960s, 

 1970s, and 1980s indicate that there have been substantial 

 declines in northern sea lion numbers in several areas, par- 

 ticularly in the eastern Aleutian Islands and the western 

 Gulf of Alaska. The magnitude and cause of these declines 

 have not been documented and, in 1983, the Commission provided 

 funds to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to help 

 support a survey of Steller sea lion colonies affected by the 

 winter pollock fishery in the Shelikof Strait (for details, 

 see the Annual Reports for 1983 and 1984) . 



The results of these surveys and other information con- 

 cerning the demography and dynamics of northern sea lion popu- 

 lations were reviewed during the Workshop convened by the 

 National Marine Mammal Laboratory on 9-10 December 1986 to 

 assess the status of northern sea lion populations in Alaska 

 and the possible cause or causes of the observed decline. As 

 noted in Chapter II of this Report, the Workshop concluded 

 that the decline was continuing and probably was due to reduc- 



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