MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



Service on 12 April 1989 that it was suspending 

 consideration of all applications to take bottlenose 

 dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast 

 of Florida pending an assessment of the status of the 

 affected populations and the effectiveness of research 

 and management programs to ensure that the affected 

 populations were not disadvantaged by such taking. 



Subsequently, the Service provided the Commis- 

 sion with additional information on its research and 

 management programs, including proposed revisions 

 of quotas for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in south- 

 eastern U.S. waters. In a 23 May 1989 letter to the 

 Service on the additional information, the Conunission 

 recommended that the Service review available data 

 on bottlenose dolphin surveys, incidental take in 

 fisheries, and chase-and-capture records by age and 

 sex. The Commission also recommended that the 

 Service identify research and monitoring programs 

 required to better define discrete stocks of bottlenose 

 dolphins and the number of dolphins by age and sex 

 being taken incidentally by fisheries. 



In its 26 June 1989 reply, the Service noted that it 

 would be desirable to conduct an independent review 

 of survey data and, by letter of 24 November 1989, it 

 addressed the remaining issues raised by the Commis- 

 sion. The Service noted, among other things, that it 

 would develop new quotas to regulate the taking of 

 bottlenose dolphins. In its 28 December 1989 re- 

 sponse to the Service, the Commission remarked on 

 a variety of matters, including the apparent inadequa- 

 cy of planned monitoring efforts to verify that autho- 

 rized removals, by themselves and in conjunction with 

 other removals, such as incidental take in commercial 

 fisheries, would not cause affected dolphin populations 

 to be reduced below their maximum net productivity 

 levels. The Commission therefore recommended that 

 (1) the Service assess potential effects of cumulative 

 human activities on bottlenose dolphin populations, 

 including types and levels of commercial fishing and 

 levels of incidental take, and (2) the Service provide 

 information on steps being taken or planned to obtain 

 more reliable information on incidental take. 



On 16 March 1990, the Commission wrote to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the 

 unusually high mortality of bottlenose dolphins in the 

 Gulf of Mexico in January through March of that 



year. The Commission noted that the cause or causes 

 of the mortality had not yet been determined. It 

 recommended that, given the possibility that the high 

 mortality could have been the result of a contagious 

 disease, live captures and removals of bottlenose 

 dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico be suspended. On 

 2 April 1990, the Service advised the Commission 

 that all permit holders had voluntarily agreed to 

 suspend capture of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf for 

 90 days to allow time to evaluate the die-off. 



On 31 May 1990, the Service published in the 

 Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking to 

 establish regulations and revise quotas for removal of 

 bottlenose dolphins for purposes of public display and 

 scientific research. The Service noted that it was 

 preparing an environmental impact statement on the 

 proposed regulations that would provide a compre- 

 hensive review of the population status of bottlenose 

 dolphins off the southeastern coast of the United 

 States. In the same issue of the Federal Register, the 

 Service announced that, due to the high dolphin 

 mortality in the Gulf of Mexico, it had adopted 

 conservative interim quotas for the capture of bottle- 

 nose dolphins. The Service announced that it would 

 reduce the quota fi-om 91 animals in 1989 to 35 

 animals for 1990 (of which no more than 17 could be 

 female). 



Because information was not sufficient to allow 

 definitive conclusions to be reached about the status of 

 bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico, the Service 

 wrote to permit holders on 20 August 1990 asking 

 them not to collect bottlenose dolphins until 1991 or 

 1992 except in situations where collection is absolute- 

 ly necessary to maintain a public display. Permit 

 holders agreed and no animals were taken under the 

 interim quotas for 1990 and 1991. 



Wild Dolphin Feeding Programs 



Beginning in the late 1980s, public feeding of 

 marine mammals in the wild, particularly bottlenose 

 dolphins, and the potential adverse effects that this 

 activity may have on the animals was addressed by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service. Under regulations 

 issued by the Service in 1991, the feeding of marine 

 manmials was prohibited. For further discussion of 

 this issue, see Chapter X of this Report. 



78 



