MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



caused several members of Congress to draft and 

 propose enactment of a bill to amend the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act "to provide for examination 

 of the health of marine mammal populations and for 

 effective coordinated response to strandings and 

 catastrophic events involving marine mammals." 



The bill (H.R. 3486) is pending before the House 

 of Representatives Committee on Merchant Marine 

 and Fisheries. If enacted as written, it would direct 

 the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior to 

 cooperatively establish programs for collecting base- 

 line data on the health of marine mammals inhabiting 

 U.S. waters and for promptly responding to unusual 

 live stranding and mortality events. It would establish 

 a "Marine Mammal Emergency Response Contingency 

 Fund," and direct that the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service establish a group of experts to assist in 

 developing contingency plans and deciding how best 

 to respond to unusual mortality events. At the end of 

 1991, the Commission was reviewing and preparing 

 comments on the bill. 



Workshop on Release of Rehabilitated 

 and Captive Marine Mammals 



Each year, many sick and injured cetaceans, 

 pinnipeds, sea otters, and manatees strand or haul out 

 on beaches in the United States. In cases involving 

 species that are endangered, threatened, or depleted, 

 it is possible that the rescue, rehabilitation, and return 

 of animals to the wUd could help stop and reverse 

 population declines. In cases involving non-depleted 

 species and populations, these actions serve a human- 

 itarian function and can prevent undue pain and 

 suffering. In both cases, rescue and rehabilitation can 

 help increase knowledge of the biology, physiology, 

 and diseases of marine mammals and identify causes 

 of marine manmial mortality from both natural and 

 human-related causes. 



In certain circumstances, rescue and rehabilitation 

 programs may have undesirable effects. For example, 

 if the rescued animals are carrying infectious diseases, 

 they could transmit them to healthy animals being held 

 at the rehabilitation facilities and possibly to domestic 

 animals. Conversely, they possibly could contract 



exotic diseases from domestic or other animals while 

 in captivity, and, when released, transmit those 

 diseases to wild populations with no natural immunity 

 or resistance to them. In addition, both live and dead 

 stranded animals may pose hazards to the general 

 public and to persons involved in rescue, rehabilita- 

 tion, and release programs. Also, in cases where 

 populations are at or near carrying capacity levels, 

 sick and dying animals may be a manifestation of 

 natural population regulation, and release of rehabili- 

 tated animals back into the wild may cause the popula- 

 tion to exceed carrying capacity, over-exploit food 

 supplies or other key habitat components, and result 

 in population declines and more sick and dying 

 animals. Further, while in captivity, animals may 

 lose their ability to locate and capture food, detect and 

 avoid predators, or interact normally with another 

 animal of the same species. If so, return to the wild 

 could result in undue mortality, pain, or suffering. 



It is not clear whether all of the organizations 

 involved in, and responsible for authorizing, rescue- 

 release programs are fully aware of and taking steps 

 necessary to avoid the types of problems mentioned 

 above. Therefore, the Commission and the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service cooperatively sponsored a 

 workshop to review and determine what more might 

 be done to avoid such problems. The workshop was 

 held in Chicago, Illinois, on 3-5 December 1991. It 

 included representatives of the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the 

 Commission, the public display industry, rescue and 

 rehabilitation centers, and representative state agen- 

 cies, as well as experts in marine manmial disease, 

 pathology, medicine, disease transmission, and public 

 health. 



At the end of 1991, the Commission, in consul- 

 tation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, was 

 determining what follow-up actions might be merited 

 before completion of the workshop report, not expect- 

 ed until mid-1992. 



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