Chapter IX — Research and Studies Program 



HABITAT AND ECOSYSTEM STUDIES 



Alaska Marine Mammal Geographic Information 

 System Feasibility Study 



(A. Anne Hoover-Miller, Pacific Rim Research, 

 Haines, Alaska) 



Many Federal agencies, Alaska State agencies, and 

 private organizations are collecting population, envi- 

 ronmental, and other data bearing upon the conserva- 

 tion of marine mammals and other wildlife in Alaska 

 and adjacent waters. Many of these data have geo- 

 graphic attributes and could be made more useful and 

 accessible by development of a cooperative or coordi- 

 nated multi-agency geographic information system. 

 The Marine Mammal Commission provided support 

 for the investigator to assess the possible use of such 

 a geographic information system to facilitate access, 

 integration, and analysis of data bearing upon the 

 conservation of marine mammals in Alaska. The 

 investigator is to contact agencies and institutions that 

 hold marine mammal and related data to determine 

 what kind of data exist and in what format they are 

 archived; develop an inventory of relevant databases 

 being maintained; determine how the utility of various 

 databases might be improved; and identify steps that 

 might be taken to improve access to, and the use of, 

 existing databases. The report, expected to be com- 

 pleted in 1992, will be provided to the relevant 

 Federal, State, and private organizations along with 

 such recommendations as may be appropriate. 



Second-Order Effects of Large-Scale High Seas 



Driftnet Fisheries on the North Pacific Marine 



Ecosystem 



(Simon P. Northridge, Ph.D., Santo, Vanuatu) 



Available information indicates that large-scale 

 pelagic driftnet fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean 

 kill large numbers of non-target as well as target 

 species, including some species that are endangered or 

 threatened. As noted in Chapter IV, in June 1991, a 

 meeting of scientists from the United States, Canada, 

 Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan was held in Sidney, 

 British Columbia, to assess the impacts of large-scale 

 high seas driftnet fisheries on marine species in the 

 North Pacific. However, the reviewers did not assess 

 the possible indirect or second-order effects of these 



fisheries on the North Pacific ecosystem. Therefore, 

 the Marine Mammal Commission contracted for this 

 study to determine, to the extent possible, how the 

 large-scale driftnet fisheries in the North Pacific may 

 affect or have affected the structure and productivity 

 of the North Pacific marine food web. In addition, 

 the contractor is to identify the types of assessments 

 that should be done before new fisheries are devel- 

 oped and to describe how the fisheries themselves 

 might be structured to ensure that they do not develop 

 faster than knowledge of their possible first- and 

 second -order impacts. The report from this study, 

 expected to be completed by mid-1992, will be used 

 by the Commission, in consultation with its Com- 

 mittee of Scientific Advisors, to help determine what 

 remedial actions are needed and how fisheries can be 

 developed and structured without adversely affecting 

 marine mammals and other non-target species. 



Review of the Department of the Interior's Draft 



Report to Congress on the Impact of Potential 



Crude-Oil Spills on the Arctic Ocean on Alaska 



Natives 



(Richard T. Townsend, Townsend Environmental, 



Otis, Oregon) 



Section 8302 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 

 directs the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation 

 with the Governor of Alaska, to prepare and provide 

 to Congress a report on issues associated with the 

 recovery of damages, contingency plans, and coordi- 

 nation of actions in the event of an oil spill in the 

 Arctic Ocean. In the course of preparing the report, 

 the Department of the Interior's Alaska Regional 

 Office, Office of Environmental Affairs, provided a 

 draft report to the Commission and others for com- 

 ment. Because of the highly specialized nature of the 

 subject area, the Commission contracted for a detailed 

 review of the draft. The contractor's review was one 

 of the bases for the Commission's comments on the 

 draft report, which were sent to the Department of the 

 Interior on 16 August 1991 and are discussed in 

 Chapter VIH. 



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