Two other laws of particular importance to marine mammal conservation are the 

 Endangered Species Act and the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. 

 Funding provisions in these Acts expired in 1992 and 1993, respectively. In 1995 Congress 

 considered bills to amend and reauthorize these Acts, but no legislation was enacted. 

 Amendments considered during 1995 that would affect marine mammals are discussed briefly. 



Species of Special Concern (Chapter III) 



The Marine Mammal Commission pays particular attention to marine mammal species 

 and populations that have special conservation needs. Chapter III discusses activities by the 

 Commission and others in 1995 to address these needs for several marine mammal species, 

 including Florida manatees, Hawaiian monk seals, Steller sea lions, northern right whales, and 

 Gulf of Maine harbor porpoises. 



Florida Manatees — Florida manatees are threatened by high levels of mortality, a third 

 of which are human-related, and habitat destruction. In 1995, 203 dead manatees, the second 

 highest annual total ever recorded, were found in the southeastern United States. Collisions with 

 boats and entrapment in water control structures (i.e., flood gates and navigation locks) are the 

 leading human causes of manatee mortality and accounted for 43 and 8 deaths, respectively, in 

 1995. The Commission helped establish a cooperative Federal-state partnership that now forms 

 the basis of efforts to address these and other manatee recovery issues. The manatee recovery 

 program has become a model for other species recovery programs. 



To reduce vessel-related manatee deaths, the State of Florida began work in 1989 to 

 develop boat speed rules in 13 key Florida counties. Work to implement these rules continued 

 in 1995. Although it is too soon to judge their effectiveness, vessel-related manatee deaths since 

 1989 have been relatively stable after a steady increase in the 1980s. The State of Florida, the 

 Army Corps of Engineers, and the South Florida Water Management District also made 

 encouraging progress in 1995 to develop pressure-sensitive gate-reversing mechanisms to prevent 

 manatee entrapment in water control structures. 



Progress was also made in 1995 to complete a revised Florida manatee recovery plan and 

 to test a new approach for returning long-term captive manatees to the wild. A potential 

 problem for the recovery program arose late in 1995 when the National Biological Service had 

 to consider substantial cuts in its manatee research program to meet proposed agency budget 

 reductions. The reductions could impede the flow of information on the status and ecology of 

 Florida manatees needed to make informed management decisions. 



Hawaiian Monk Seals — Hawaiian monk seals are one of the world's most endangered 

 seals. Sensitive to human disturbance, they occur almost exclusively on and around small, 

 remote islets in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The number of Hawaiian monk seals has 

 decreased significantly in recent years for reasons that are not certain. However, recovery 

 prospects in some areas were improved by recent decisions to close a Coast Guard LORAN 

 station on Kure Atoll and a Naval Air Station on the Midway Islands — two of the species' six 



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