fication of, and continued support, for priority research and 

 management tasks. 



Congressional concern for survival of the species has 

 been expressed, in part, through special appropriations for 

 monk seal-related activities. In Fiscal Year 1981, Congress 

 provided the Commission $100,000 to develop and initiate an 

 expanded research and management program for monk seals. The 

 Commission's efforts to develop and begin implementing a 

 directed research and management program are discussed in its 

 previous Annual Reports. Each year since 1981, Congress has 

 appropriated funding to the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 explicitly for the purpose of carrying that program forward. 

 Recent appropriations to the Service for critically needed 

 monk seal research include $350,000 in Fiscal Year 1985 and 

 $325,000 for each of Fiscal Years 1986, 1987, and 1988. 



In 1983, the National Marine Fisheries Service, in 

 consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission and other 

 interested parties, adopted a Recovery Plan for Hawaiian monk 

 seals. In the years following adoption of the plan, progress 

 on developing and implementing recovery actions, the accumu- 

 lation of new information, and recognition of new research 

 and management issues precipitated a need to thoroughly review 

 priorities for the monk seal recovery program. As a result, 

 the Commission wrote to the Service in December 1986 

 recommending, among other things, that the Hawaiian Monk Seal 

 Recovery Team, which had not met since 1984, be reconstituted 

 and reconvened to update the monk seal Recovery Plan. During 

 1987, the Service invited individuals, including a repre- 

 sentative of the Marine Mammal Commission, to serve on the 

 Recovery Team. Due to funding limitations, the Team was 

 unable to meet in 1987. 



As an interim measure, the Commission convened a Hawaiian 

 monk seal program review during the course of its 10-12 December 

 1987 Annual Meeting. Representatives of the Service, as well 

 as the Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors, 

 participated in the review. There was general agreement 

 among the participants regarding a number of priority needs 

 including: testing and selection of population monitoring 

 procedures; determining the significance of disease problems 

 related to recovery; identifying monk seal habitat use patterns 

 and food preferences; continuing the Kure Atoll Head Start 

 Project to help rebuild the atoll's seal population; continuing 

 the removal and rehabilitation of emaciated pups from French 

 Frigate Shoals to increase their chances of survival; continuing 

 to remove marine debris from beaches and nearshore waters 

 where it might entangle and kill monk seals; continuing 

 consultations with the Coast Guard on ways to reduce distur- 

 bance of seals on Kure Atoll; consulting further with the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure continued operation of 



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