As noted earlier, the Commission convenes workshops and 

 contracts for research and studies to identify and evaluate 

 threats to marine mammal populations. It also supports other 

 research necessary to further the purposes and policies of 

 the Act. Since it was established, the Commission has con- 

 tracted for more than 625 projects, ranging in amounts from 

 several hundred dollars to $150,000. The average contract 

 amount has been about $6,900. The total amounts of contracts 

 awarded have been: $258,787 in FY 1974; $446,628 in FY 75; 

 $497,449 in FY 76; $132,068 in the FY 76-77 three-month tran- 

 sition period; $523,504 in FY 77; $407,678 in FY 78; $219,897 

 in FY 79; $396,640 in FY 80; $173,652 in FY 81; $107,117 in 

 FY 82; $211,982 in FY 83; $327,854 in FY 84; $226,160 in FY 85; 

 $132,611 in FY 86; $134,975 in FY 87; and $124,603 in FY 88. 



From time to time, the Commission's investment in research 

 activities is in the form of transfers of funds to other Federal 

 agencies, particularly the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 and the Fish and Wildlife Service. When such funds are trans- 

 ferred, the Commission provides detailed scopes of work which 

 describe precisely what the agency is to do or to have done 

 and the requirements for reporting on progress to the Commis- 

 sion. In many instances, this approach has made it possible 

 for agencies to start needed research sooner than might other- 

 wise have been possible and then to subsequently support the 

 projects on their own for as long as necessary. The Commission 

 believes that it is valuable to maintain agency involvement 

 to the greatest extent possible and that such transfers provide 

 a useful means of doing so. 



Projects undertaken by the Marine Mammal Commission in 

 1988 are summarized below. In those cases in which the Commis- 

 sion has jointly supported the work with other agencies, it 

 is so noted in the project summary. 



Final reports from Commission-sponsored studies completed 

 in 1988 and earlier are available from the National Technical 

 Information Service; they are listed in Appendix B of this 

 Report. Papers resulting from Commission-sponsored activities 

 and published elsewhere are listed in Appendix C. 



West Indian Manatee 



West Indian manatee populations in Florida and elsewhere 

 are in danger of extinction because of human-caused mortality, 

 injury, and habitat destruction and degradation. For this 

 reason, the Commission, in recent years, has recommended that 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service take a variety of steps to 

 protect and encourage recovery of the species in Florida and 

 elsewhere (see Chapter III and previous Annual Reports) . 



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