Chapter 11 — Species of S|)ecial Concern 



initiate appropriate actions as required by relevant 

 statutes. 



On 9 May 1991, following a presentation by Navy 

 personnel at the Marine Mammal Commission's 

 annual meeting in Bellevue, Washington, the Commis- 

 sion wrote to the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding 

 Sea Lion Rock. The Commission noted that it found 

 the Navy's use of Sea Lion Rock as a practice bomb- 

 ing target to be incompatible with: (1) its designation 

 as a wildlife refuge and a wilderness area and its 

 pending designation as a marine sanctuary, and (2) the 

 presence of species protected under provisions of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered 

 Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The 

 Commission, in consultation with its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors, therefore recommended that the 

 Service no longer permit the Navy to use Sea Lion 

 Rock as a practice bombing site. 



On 3 June 1991, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 responded to the Commission's letter. The Service 

 noted that it was currently reviewing the compatibility 

 of the Navy's use of Sea Lion Rock with the island's 

 status as a refuge and wilderness area and the protect- 

 ed status under applicable laws granted to many 

 wildlife species found there. 



As of the end of 1991, the Marine Mammal Com- 

 mission had not yet been advised as to the results of 

 the Navy's and Fish and Wildlife Service's respective 

 reviews of Sea Lion Rock use conflicts. In early 

 1992, the Commission intends to pursue the issue to 

 a definitive conclusion. 



Harbor Seal in Alaska 

 {Phoca vituUnd) 



Harbor seals inhabit temperate and sub-arctic 

 coastal waters in the North Pacific and North Atlantic 

 Oceans and contiguous seas. In the North Pacific, 

 they occur nearly continuously along the Pacific Rim, 

 fi-om San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja California, Mexico, 

 north through southeastern Alaska, and west to the 

 Bering Sea, the Aleutian, Commander, and Kuril 

 Islands, and south to Hokkaido, Japan. 



In the early 1970s, approximately 270,000 harbor 

 seals were estimated to occur in the coastal waters of 

 Alaska. Although there is no up-to-date state-wide 

 estimate, counts made sporadically since the early 

 1970s at harbor seal rookeries and haulout sites in the 

 Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea indicate significant 

 declines in many areas. 



In order to assist research efforts on harbor seal 

 population trends, in 1990 the Commission provided 

 funds to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to 

 conduct a survey of harbor seals on Tugidak Island in 

 the central Gulf of Alaska. Tugidak was believed to 

 have the largest concentration of harbor seals in the 

 world as recently as the mid-1960s when more than 

 20,000 seals hauled out on the island. By the mid- 

 1970s, however, the mean count had declined to less 

 than 7,000 seals. The 1990 survey revealed that, 

 since 1976, mean counts at the Island had declined 

 from approximately 6,900 animals to fewer than 

 1 ,000, a decrease of 86 percent. A report of the 1990 

 survey, published in February 1991, recommended 

 that counts be conducted again in 1992 in order to 

 continue monitoring of population trends. 



To help determine what, if anything, needed to be 

 done to better protect the declining harbor seal popu- 

 lation in Alaska, the Commission provided funds in 

 1986 to compile and evaluate information on the 

 biology, ecology, and status of harbor seals as well as 

 nine other species of marine mammals in Alaska. The 

 resulting report, published by the Commission in 1988 

 (see Appendix B, Lentfer 1988), indicated that num- 

 bers of harbor seals, as well as Steller sea lions 

 (Eumetopias jubatus), had declined dramatically in 

 Alaska since the 1970s. As described elsewhere in 

 this Report, North Pacific fiir seals (Callorhinus 

 ursinus) also have declined dramatically since the 

 1970s. Harbor seals were also affected by the Exxon 

 Valdez oil spill in March 1989. For further discussion 

 of the spill, see previous Annual Reports and Chapter 

 Vn of this Report. 



Since publication of the 1988 report, much addi- 

 tional information on harbor seals in Alaska has 

 become available, including the counts at Tugidak 

 Island discussed above. Therefore, early in 1991, the 

 Commission contracted for an update of the 1988 



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