MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



The National Marine Fisheries Service has lead 

 U.S. responsibility for identifying, encouraging, and 

 coordinating research necessary to ensure that human 

 activities do not adversely affect bowhead whales or 

 their habitat. Therefore, in its 5 December 1991 

 letter to the U.S. IWC Commissioner (see Chapter 

 TV), the Marine Mammal Commission recommended 

 that the Service undertake or cause to be undertaken 

 research called for by the IWC to monitor the status 

 of this population and the effect of the subsistence 

 harvest on its continuing recovery. The Marine 

 Mammal Commission also recommended that the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service develop a recovery 

 plan to guide research and recovery efforts for the 

 western Arctic bowhead whale population. 



Small-Take Exemption 



On 18 July 1990, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service published in the Federal Register a final rule 

 authorizing the incidental, non-lethal take of six 

 species of marine mammals, including the bowhead 

 whale, with no specified limit on the numbers of 

 animals that can be taken, incidental to oil and gas 

 exploration activities in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas 

 from 1990 to 1995. The Commission's conunents on 

 this rule and subsequent requests by industry groups 

 for letters of authorization to take bowhead whales are 

 described in Chapter Vin. 



In 1992, the Marine Mammal Commission will 

 continue to review matters related to bowhead whales 

 and advise the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 

 Minerals Management Service, and other involved 

 agencies and groups on further actions that may be 

 necessary to protect and encourage the recovery of the 

 western Arctic bowhead whale population. 



Gray Whale 

 (Eschrichtius robustus) 



The gray whale is the sole member of the family 

 Eschrichtiidae. It breeds, feeds, and migrates primar- 

 ily in coastal waters of the continental shelf. Its 

 presence in nearshore waters exposes the gray whale 

 to industrial, recreational, and other human activities 

 throughout most of its range. 



There are two recognized stocks of gray whales 

 — the western North Pacific (Korean) stock, which is 

 severely depleted, and the eastern North Pacific 

 (California) stock, which has recovered from severe 

 depletion caused by over-exploitation. Although 

 commercial hunting of both stocks is prohibited, the 

 eastern North Pacific stock is subject to an annual 

 subsistence harvest in the Chukchi Sea. 



Each year, virtually the entire eastern North 

 Pacific gray whale population migrates between major 

 summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi 

 Seas and winter breeding grounds in the nearshore 

 waters, bays, and lagoons of southern California and 

 Baja California, Mexico. Following discovery of the 

 principal breeding lagoons along the Pacific coast of 

 Baja California by commercial whalers, the population 

 was severely depleted in the 1850s and 1860s. A 

 second period of commercial whaling using factory 

 ships further depleted the stock in the early 1900s. 



By 1946, when the International Convention for 

 the Regulation of Whaling afforded the stock protec- 

 tion from commercial whaling, gray whales were 

 believed to number no more than a few thousand 

 animals. In 1970, additional protection was provided 

 when the species was designated as endangered under 

 the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969, the 

 predecessor to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. 

 By virtue of this listing, the species is also considered 

 depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



Since commercial whaling for gray whales was 

 prohibited, the eastern North Pacific population has 

 grown to approximately 21,000 animals and appears 

 to be still increasing. Past analyses suggested the pre- 

 exploitation population size was between 15,000 and 

 24,000 animals. However, a more recent analysis 

 suggests that the pre-exploitation level could have 

 been as high as 35,000 animals. In response to its | 

 continuing recovery, the International Whaling Com- 

 mission (IWC) in 1978 reclassified the eastern North 

 Pacific gray whale from a protected stock to a sus- 

 tained management stock. Since 1986, under a 

 subsistence quota set by the IWC, 179 gray whales 

 have been taken annually by the Soviet Union on 

 behalf of its Siberian Natives. 



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