Chapter II — Species of Special Concern 



quently developed by the Service was judged inade- 

 quate and, on 2 September 1977, the Commission 

 convened a group of experts to critically review the 

 plan. The Commission subsequently developed and, 

 on 14 September 1977, transmitted a recommended 

 research program to the Service. The Service modi- 

 fied and adopted this plan and presented it at the 

 December 1977 meeting of the IWC in support of the 

 U.S. pledge to undertake a comprehensive research 

 and monitoring program. Also, the Bureau of Land 

 Management (which later relinquished authority over 

 offshore mineral resources to the Minerals Manage- 

 ment Service) initiated a bowhead whale research 

 program in 1978 in response to consultations with the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service pursuant to section 

 7 of the Endangered Species Act. At issue were the 

 possible effects of offshore oil and gas exploration and 

 development on bowhead whales and how best to 

 address the matters. 



Between 1978 and 1981, the Marine Mammal 

 Commission recommended and helped to organize 

 research reviews and coordination meetings. The 

 meetings were designed to avoid duplication and to 

 coordinate research being planned or supported by 

 Federal agencies (particularly the Bureau of Land 

 Management and the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service) and other groups. By letter of 11 January 

 1982, the Marine Mammal Commission recommended 

 that the National Marine Fisheries Service's Alaska 

 Regional Director assume responsibility for convening 

 regular coordination meetings of all researchers and 

 sponsors before the start of each spring bowhead 

 whale research season. 



In subsequent years, formal coordination meetings 

 were not always held. It was not clear that everything 

 necessary was being done to ensure that bowhead 

 whale studies continued to be well-designed and 

 properly coordinated. For example, a representative 

 of Alaska's Native community raised questions during 

 the Commission's 1989 annual meeting in Monterey, 

 California, as to whether the objectives of a contract 

 study being supported by the Minerals Management 

 Service were realistic, given the described study 

 design, and whether this study would interfere with 

 other ongoing studies and adversely affect both the 

 whales and the armual subsistence hunt by Alaska 

 Eskimos. 



In its 20 March 1989 letter commenting on the 

 permit application for the Minerals Management 

 Service contract study, the Commission recommended 

 that the National Marine Fisheries Service issue the 

 permit with the condition that the funding agency (the 

 Minerals Management Service) constitute a quality 

 review board to review the proposed study design and 

 reconmiend needed modifications. A Scientific 

 Review Board was subsequently constituted and now 

 meets twice each year to review the results of the 

 preceding season's research and plans for the forth- 

 coming season. The board will meet in February 

 1992 to review the results of the 1991 season and the 

 plans for the program's final season in 1992. 



Although bowhead whale research planning and 

 coordination meetings were not held before the 1990 

 and 1991 research seasons, representatives of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service and the Service's 

 National Marine Mammal Laboratory met in early 

 spring in Barrow, Alaska, with representatives of the 

 Minerals Management Service's contractor hired to 

 conduct bowhead whale studies and with representa- 

 tives of the Native community to organize and coordi- 

 nate the 1990 and 1991 research programs with the 

 Native hunt and other planned research. 



Research activities planned for spring 1992 

 include aerial photogrammetric surveys directed by 

 the National Marine Mammal Laboratory staff, an ice- 

 based census directed by the North Slope Borough 

 staff, and continuation of sound playback studies 

 supported by the Minerals Management Service. 

 Disruptions resulting from these activities, by them- 

 selves and in conjunction with noise and other distur- 

 bances from industry exploration for oil and gas 

 resources off Alaska (see Chapter VHI), could affect 

 the bowhead whale's spring migration past Barrow, 

 Alaska, and the availability of bowhead whales for the 

 Native subsistence hunt. Also, these programs could 

 result in mutual interference and inefficient use of 

 logistic support if not coordinated effectively. There- 

 fore, the National Marine Fisheries Service has 

 proposed a formal program coordination meeting for 

 January 1992 to discuss research plans and field 

 requirements, aerial and ice safety procedures and 

 communication, and geographic overlap between the 

 aerial surveys, the ice census, and the Native subsis- 

 tence hunt. 



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