was discontinued. Loss of the program will substantially reduce efforts to address marine debris 

 pollution in 1996 and beyond. 



In other developments, changes recommended by the Coast Guard were adopted to 

 strengthen the international convention governing the discharge of garbage by ships (i.e., Annex 

 V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships). Also, the Navy 

 continued efforts to bring its ships into compliance with Annex V by statutory deadlines. 



Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Exploration 

 and Development (Chapter IX) 



Marine mammals may be affected by oil spills, routine discharges, noise, vessel and air 

 traffic, and other perturbations caused by activities associated with offshore oil and gas 

 development. The Minerals Management Service has lead responsibility for ensuring that such 

 activities do not adversely affect marine mammals, their habitat, or their availability to be taken 

 for subsistence purposes by Alaska Natives. In 1995 the Commission commented to the Service 

 on plans for two proposed oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and four proposed lease sales in the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



Research and Studies Program (Chapter X) 



The Marine Mammal Protection Act directs the Marine Mammal Commission to 

 undertake such studies as it deems necessary to further the purposes of the Act. In 1995 the 

 Commission's research budget was about $100,000 and was used, in part, to begin updating the 

 Commission's 1993 compendium of international treaties and agreements; prepare and publish 

 a report describing the results of the Commission's 1994 workshop to update principles for wild 

 living resource conservation; help curate a photo-identification catalogue of North Atlantic 

 humpback whales; develop a database and suggested data collection protocol for harbor seals 

 hunted for subsistence purposes by Natives in Alaska; assess new and developing research 

 technologies that might be applied to further marine mammal research; monitor recently 

 reestablished gray seal colonies in New England; evaluate key baleen whale habitat components 

 that are particularly important for managers to recognize and protect; help complete and publish 

 the results of studies left unfinished by the death of Francis H. Fay, Ph.D., an eminent marine 

 mammal biologist; and carry out a survey of federally-funded marine mammal research. 



The Commission also received funds in 1995 from the National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 the Navy, and the State Department to convene a technical workshop on the use of sound 

 generators and reflectors to reduce marine mammal interactions with fishing gear, to assess the 

 probability of sighting right whales from aerial survey planes operating off Georgia and northern 

 Florida, and to help update the Commission's compendium of treaties and agreements. 



XI 



