MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



California, Alaska, and New England; Hawaiian monk 

 seals; humpback whales; right whales; gray whales; 

 killer whales; North Pacific fur seals; Steller sea 

 lions; harbor seals; Pacific walruses; polar bears; sea 

 otter populations off California and Alaska; Steller sea 

 lions; West Indian manatees; the tuna-porpoise issue; 

 high seas driftnet fisheries; other marine mammal- 

 fisheries interactions; the disturbance of marine 

 mammals by military activities; the impact of oil spills 

 on marine mammals, their habitats, and availability 

 for subsistence harvests; the possible effects on marine 

 mammals of high-energy, low-firequency sounds 

 associated with global wanning research; and entan- 

 glement of marine mammals in lost or discarded 

 fishing gear and other marine debris. 



The Commission also convened, co-sponsored, 

 provided background information for, or participated 

 in meetings and workshops to review and evaluate 

 marine mammal research programs at the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service's National Marine Mammal 

 Laboratory and Northeast Science Center; review and 

 evaluate the National Marine Fisheries Service's 

 Hawaiian monk seal research program and implemen- 

 tation of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Plan; 

 determine principles, needs, and objectives of site- 

 specific monitoring programs to detect and assess the 

 effects of offshore oil and gas exploration activities on 

 marine mammals in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and 

 Bering Seas; assess the sustained use of the northeast 

 Atlantic shelf ecosystem, its wetlands, estuaries, 

 coastal zone, fisheries, marine mammals, and other 

 resources; review measures being taken by the Nation- 

 al Marine Fisheries Service and others to reduce the 

 incidental take of porpoises in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific yellowfin tuna purse seine fishery; review 

 U.S. domestic policy concerning the possible resump- 

 tion of commercial whaling and revision of the 1946 

 Convention for the Regulation of Whaling; review and 

 comment on the draft Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty 

 on Environmental Protection and its associated Annex- 

 es as developed at the Xlth Special Antarctic Treaty 

 Consultative Meeting; review and develop methods 

 and protocols, including dissection techniques, tissue 

 sampling procedures, and analyses, for research on 

 cetacean die-offs in U.S. and European waters; review 

 and assess plans to develop and implement an inter- 

 national program to monitor pollution in the Arctic; 



identify and recommend research to assess the effects 

 of high-energy, low-frequency sound on marine 

 mammals; assess programs to rescue and rehabilitate 

 live-stranded marine mammals; and identify priority 

 issues for the newly formed North Pacific Marine 

 Science Organization. 



Commission-Sponsored Researdi 

 and Study Projects 



The Departments of Commerce and the Interior 

 have primary responsibility under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act for acquiring the biological and ecolog- 

 ical data needed to protect and conserve marine 

 mammals and the ecosystems of which they are a part. 

 This responsibility has been delegated to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, respectively. 



As noted earlier, the Commission convenes work- 

 shops and contracts for research and studies to help 

 identify, define, and evaluate threats to marine mam- 

 mals and their habitat. It also supports other research 

 necessary to further the purposes and policies of the 

 Act. Since it was established, the Commission has 

 contracted for approximately 826 projects ranging in 

 amounts from several hundred dollars to $150,000. 

 The amounts spent aimually on research and studies 

 since 1986 have averaged about $100,000. 



From time to time, the Commission's investment 

 in research activities is in the form of transfers of 

 funds to and from other Federal agencies, particularly 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, and the Minerals Management 

 Service. When such funds are transferred from the 

 Commission to another agency, the Commission 

 provides detailed scopes of work that describe precise- 

 ly what the agency is to do or to have done and the 

 requirements for reporting on progress to the Com- 

 mission. In many instances, this approach has made 

 it possible for agencies to start needed research sooner 

 than might otherwise have been possible and to subse- 

 quently support the projects on their own for as long 

 as necessary. The Commission believes that it is 

 valuable to maintain agency involvement to the 



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