MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



Small-Take Exemptions 



Section 101(a)(5) of the Marine Mammal Protec- 

 tion Act directs the Secretaries of the Interior and 

 Commerce to authorize, upon request, the unintention- 

 al taking of small numbers of both depleted and non- 

 depleted marine mammals incidental to activities other 

 than commercial fishing operations, when, after notice 

 and opportunity for public comment, certain condi- 

 tions are met. In particular, the Secretary must find 

 that the total of such taking will have a negligible im- 

 pact on the affected species or stock, and will not 

 have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability 

 of the species or stock for taking by Alaska Natives 

 for subsistence uses. 



The Secretary also must prescribe regulations 

 setting forth permissible methods of taking and means 

 of affecting the least practicable adverse impact on 

 such species or stock and its habitat and on the avail- 

 ability of such species or stock for subsistence uses, 

 and requirements pertaining to the monitoring and 

 reporting of such taking. 



Promulgation of Regulations To Authorize the 

 Incidental Take of Cetaceans and Pinnipeds 



As noted in the Commission's previous Annual 

 Report, the National Marine Fisheries Service pub- 

 lished a proposed rule in the Federal Register on 

 3 October 1989 to authorize for five years the take of 

 six species of marine mammals (bowhead, gray, and 

 beluga whales and bearded, ringed, and spotted seals) 

 incidental to geophysical surveys and oil and gas 

 exploration activities in the Chukchi and Beaufort 

 Seas. In its comments on the proposed rule, provided 

 to the Service on 9 February 1990, the Commission 

 noted that it was not clear that only "small numbers" 

 of marine mammals, particularly bowhead whales, 

 would be taken. The Commission recommended that 

 the Service estimate the numbers of each species of 

 marine mammal that might be taken and explain the 

 basis of the determination that those numbers are 

 "small." The Commission also recommended that the 

 proposed rule be amended to provide the Commission 

 and the public an opportunity to review and comment 

 on monitoring plans and other aspects of specific 

 requests for incidental take authorizations before 



letters of authorization are issued. With respect to 

 bowhead whales, the Commission recommended that, 

 prior to authorizing the requested take, the Service 

 develop a bowhead whale recovery plan and, based 

 upon the recovery plan, determine that: (1) the 

 authorized activities would not significantly affect the 

 time it will take the western Arctic bowhead whale 

 population to recover to its maximum net productivity 

 level; and (2) existing baseline data and monitoring 

 programs are sufficient to verify that the activities do 

 not significantly affect the population's recovery rate. 



With respect to monitoring, the Service's proposed 

 rule specified that holders of letters of authorization 

 must designate a qualified individual or individuals to 

 observe and record the effects of exploration activities 

 on marine mammals; when applying for a letter of 

 authorization, the applicant must include a site-specific 

 plan to monitor the effects on marine mammals that 

 are present during exploratory activities; and holders 

 of letters of authorization must, within 90 days 

 following the completion of any exploratory activities, 

 submit a report describing, among other things, the 

 results of the monitoring activities, including an 

 estimate of the actual level of take. 



Requirements for monitoring plans were not speci- 

 fied in the final rule issued by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service in July 1990 and, on 26-27 February 

 1991, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the 

 Minerals Management Service cooperatively convened 

 a workshop in Seattle, Washington, to develop site- 

 specific monitoring guidelines for the 1991 operating 

 season. A former member of the Commission's 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors participated in the 

 workshop on behalf of the Commission. The work- 

 shop developed guidelines for evaluating the marine 

 mammal monitoring plans required to be submitted 

 with requests for letter of authorization. The National 

 Marine Fisheries Service advised the Commission of 

 these guidelines by letter of 26 March 1991. 



Promulgation of Regulations To Authorize the 

 Incidental Take of Walruses and Polar Bears 



On 25 February 1991, the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service published in the Federal Register a proposed 

 rule to authorize, for five years, the non-lethal take of 



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