ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION 

 CALENDAR YEAR 1987 



I . Introduction 1 



Background 1 



Personnel 1 



Funding 2 



The Report 2 



II . Species of Special Concern 6 



West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus ) 6 



Palau Dugong ( Dugong dugon ) 18 



Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi ) ... 19 

 North Pacific Fur Seal ( Callorhinus ursinus) . .24 



Northern Sea Lion ( Euntetopias jubatus ) 37 



The California Sea Otter Population 



( Enhydra lutris) 38 



Humpback Whale ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) 49 



Right Whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ) 53 



Bowhead Whale ( Balaena mysticetus ) 56 



Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena ) 59 



Gulf of California Harbor Porpoise 



( Phocoena sinus ) 62 



Hector's Dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus hectori ) .... 63 

 River Dolphins (Superfamily Platanistoidea) . . . 64 



III . Die-Off of Bottlenose Dolphins 67 



IV. Marine Mammal Management in Alaska 71 



Marine Mammal Working Groups and 



Species Reports 71 



Background Information on Transfer of 



Management 72 



Report of the Special Advisor on Native 



Affairs 74 



Pacific Walrus Memorandum of Agreement 75 



Meeting of the Alaska Federation of Natives... 75 



Federal Marking and Tagging Regulations 76 



Litigation. 77 



V. International Aspects of Marine Mammal 



Protection and Conservation 78 



Conservation and Protection of Marine 



Mammals in the Southern Ocean 78 



International Whaling Commission (IWC) 95 



Convention on International Trade in 

 Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and 



Flora (CITES) 104 



Cartagena Convention 106 



VI . Impacts of Marine Debris 109 



Background 109 



Domestic Activities in 1987 Ill 



International Activities 118 



