The industry representative noted that much had been 

 learned in the past ten years and with several possible 

 exceptions available information was sufficient to assess and 

 determine how to avoid the possible adverse effects of 

 exploration and development activities on bowhead whales. 

 The principal exception in his view is the lack of data on 

 the behavior of bowheads during migration near full-scale 

 drilling operations. The industry believes that drilling 

 should be permitted with a monitoring program in place to 

 experimentally determine bowhead response to full-scale 

 drilling activity. Efforts in this regard were initiated in 

 1986 and, in the industry's view, should be continued for 

 several years. 



The North Slope Borough has played an active role in 

 identifying and supporting needed research. In 1987, the 

 Borough plans to continue supporting: a visual census of 

 bowheads migrating off Point Barrow in spring; acoustic 

 listening studies to locate whales migrating beyond the 

 visual sighting distance from shore-based observers; 

 attachment of radio-tags to harpoon floats to facilitate 

 location of whales harpooned by Native subsistence hunters; 

 and morphological studies to improve knowledge of the basic 

 biology and health of bowhead whales. The Borough also plans 

 to hold a fourth Conference on the Biology of the Bowhead 

 Whale in Anchorage, Alaska, on 4-6 March 1987. 



The conferences organized by the North Slope Borough 

 provide an important opportunity to review research results 

 and identify critical gaps in knowledge of the biology, 

 ecology, and management of bowhead whales. Commission 

 representatives will attend the Conference, consult with 

 representatives of other Federal and State agencies, 

 industry, and native groups attending the Conference, and 

 advise the Commission as to any additional actions necessary 

 to protect and encourage recovery of the Bering Sea bowhead 

 whale population. 



Ricfht Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) 



The right whale is the most endangered of the world's 

 large whales. As a result of commercial whaling in the 19th 

 and early 20th centuries, only a few small groups of animals 

 remain. The North Pacific population is thought to number in 

 the tens of animals, and off the northeast coast of the 

 United States, the right whale population may number no more 

 than a few hundred. Although the species has been protected 

 from commercial whaling since the 1930s, there is no evidence 

 of substantial population increases. In addition, the 

 species preference for coastal areas exposes it to 



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