Chapter IX — Research and Studies Program 



greatest extent possible and that such transfers provide 

 a useful means of doing so. 



In calendar year 1991, the Commission provided 

 approximately $83,500 of its own funds to support 

 research projects. In addition, the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service and the National Ocean Service 

 transferred a total of $58,500 to the Commission for 

 cooperative support of certain research and studies. 

 The 1991 research projects, including those that were 

 jointly supported, are summarized below. 



Final reports from Commission-sponsored studies 

 completed in 1991 and earlier are available from the 

 National Technical Information Service and are listed 

 in Appendix B of this Report. Papers resulting 

 entirely or in part from Commission-sponsored activi- 

 ties and published elsewhere are listed in Appendix C. 

 Projects initiated in 1991 are summarized below. 



SPECIES REPORTS 



In 1988, the Marine Mammal Commission pub- 

 lished a report entitled Selected Marine Mammals of 

 Alaska: Species Accounts with Research and Manage- 

 ment Recommendations (see Appendix B, Lentfer 

 1988). The purpose of the report was to provide 

 background material for the development of conserva- 

 tion plans for ten species of Alaska marine mammals. 

 In light of continuing declines of Steller sea lions and 

 harbor seals in Alaska waters and the 1989 Exxon 

 Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, the Commis- 

 sion contracted with experts in Alaska to revise the 

 original reports for these species and to add a new 

 species report on the killer whale. 



Alaska Killer Whale Species Report 



(Craig O. Matkin, North Gulf Oceanic Society, 



Homer, Alaska) 



As noted in Chapter II, killer whales (Qrcinus 

 orca) in Alaska are involved in interactions with 

 fisheries, particularly the longline blackcod, or 

 sablefish, fishery in Prince William Sound and the 

 Bering Sea. Killer whales also are exposed to increas- 

 ing whale-watching and commercial vessel traffic in 

 Alaska coastal waters. In addition, recent photograph- 

 ic identification studies of killer whales in southern 



Alaska have indicated that, since the 1989 Exxon 

 Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, a number of 

 animals are missing from pods known to frequent that 

 area. In recognition of these factors, the Commission 

 contracted for the preparation of a species report 

 synthesizing and evaluating available information 

 concerning: (1) the natural history of killer whales; 

 (2) the demography and status of killer whales in 

 Alaska waters; and (3) issues bearing upon the present 

 and future conservation of killer whales in Alaska 

 waters. The report, which will be completed early in 

 1992, also will provide an assessment of critical 

 research and management needs, and recommend 

 actions to meet those needs. 



Update of Alaska Harbor Seal Species Report 

 (A. Anne Hoover-Miller, Pacific Rim Research, 

 Haines, Alaska) 



When first published in 1988, the species report 

 for Alaska harbor seals {Phoca vitidina) noted that the 

 Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated that 

 about 270,000 harbor seals inhabited Alaska waters in 

 1973. As noted in Chapter 11, recent censuses of 

 harbor seal haulout and breeding sites in Alaska 

 indicate that abundance has declined and is continuing 

 to decline, particularly in the central Gulf of Alaska. 

 For example, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, 

 Tugidak Island in the Gulf of Alaska was one of the 

 largest harbor seal haulouts in the world with about 

 20,000 seals using the area. Subsequent maximum 

 counts revealed a steady decline in the number of 

 seals as follows: 1976, 9,300 seals; 1979, 4,900 

 seals; 1984, 2,200 seals; 1986, 1,700 seals, and 1988, 

 1,400 seals. Similar declines have been documented 

 in other parts of Alaska as well. In view of this 

 situation, the Commission contracted for an update of 

 the 1988 species account with the research and man- 

 agement recommendations. This update is expected 

 to be completed early in 1992. 



Update of Steller Sea Lion Species Report 

 (Donald G. Calkins, Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game, Anchorage, Alaska) 



As noted in Chapter n, Steller sea lions (Eume- 

 topiasjubatus) have declined throughout most of their 

 range in recent years and have been designated 



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