mammal populations in California; and (b) describe the 

 research and monitoring programs necessary to evaluate the 

 likely costs and benefits of potential mitigation measures. 

 The workshop results, described in Chapter VI, will be used 

 to help develop a cooperative State/Federal program for 

 minimizing the adverse effects of interactions on both the 

 affected fisheries and marine mammal populations. 



Symposium on Biomass and Geography of Large Marine 



Ecosystems 



(K. Sherman, Ph.D., Northeast Fisheries Center, National 



Marine Fisheries Service) 



The contractor is organizing a Symposium on Biomass and 

 Geography of Large Marine Ecosystems, to be held in Chicago, 

 Illinois, on 16-17 February 1987, as part of the annual 

 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science. The symposium is being co-sponsored by the Associa- 

 tion, the Center for Ocean Management Studies at the Univer- 

 sity of Rhode Island, the Marine Mammal Commission, and the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National 

 Marine Fisheries Service. Symposium participants will 

 include researchers from Argentina, Australia, China, Den- 

 mark, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and the United States. The 

 purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for examining 

 the causes of large-scale biomass shifts within large marine 

 ecosystems against the background of natural variability and 

 anthropogenically-induced perturbations from over-exploi- 

 tation and pollution. The results of the symposium should 

 contribute to determining how to assess and maintain the 

 health and stability of the marine ecosystems of which marine 

 mammals are a part. 



Field Surveys and Photo-Identification of Right Whales in the 



Bay of Fundy 



(S. D. Kraus, New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts) 



In 1985, the Commission convened two workshops to iden- 

 tify and describe research and management actions necessary 

 to protect right whales and their habitat in the northwest 

 Atlantic Ocean. In 1986, Congress provided a special appro- 

 priation to the National Marine Fisheries Service to support 

 needed research. The funding did not become available until 

 late in the year and, in the interim, the Commission provided 

 funds for the contractor to continue summer surveys and 

 photo-identification studies of right whales begun in the 

 lower Bay of Fundy in 198 0. The study is providing valuable 

 information on right whale calving intervals, growth rates, 

 and mortality, as well as population size and habitat-use 

 patterns. Some of the information must be collected each 

 year to permit meaningful interpretation, and failure to 

 continue the study in 1986 would have compromised its value. 



