MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



strongly suggests that the sound transmission was not 

 responsible for the deaths. 



Humpback Whales in the North Atlantic 



At least two stocks of humpback whales are 

 thought to exist in the North Atlantic Ocean — an 

 eastern and a western stock. The western stock 

 winters in coastal waters of countries bordering the 

 eastern Caribbean Sea. Its known summer feeding 

 grounds include the Gulf of Maine, the Bay of Fundy, 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and waters off Newfound- 

 land, Labrador, southwestern Greenland, and Iceland. 

 The location of the winter calving grounds of the 

 eastern North Atlantic humpback whale stock is 

 uncertain; its summer feeding ground appears to be 

 west and north of Norway in the Norwegian Sea. 



Project YONAH — A major cooperative 

 research effort on the abundance, population structure, 

 vital rates, and migratory movements of North Atlan- 

 tic humpback whales was begun early in 1992. The 

 program, titled Years of the North Atlantic Humpback 

 Whale, or Project YONAH, involves scientists from 

 seven countries (Canada, Denmark, the Dominican 

 Republic, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and 

 the United States). 



The first two years of the project, 1992 and 1993, 

 were devoted primarily to field work. Biopsy samples 

 for genetic analysis and photographs for individual 

 identification were collected from both summer 

 feeding areas in the northeast and breeding areas in 

 the West Indies. About 2,500 individual whales have 

 been identified from more than 5,200 photographs, 

 and about 2,600 biopsy samples for genetic analysis 

 have been collected. 



The field work has been completed and data 

 analysis is underway. As indicated in Chapter X and 

 in previous annual reports, the Commission provided 

 funds in 1991, 1993, and again in 1995 to assist with 

 project administration, data analysis, and dissemina- 

 tion of results. In addition, the Commission provided 

 partial funding in 1995 for assessing the quality of 

 photographs in the North Atlantic humpback whale 

 photo-identification collection. Much new information 

 on the species' North Atlantic population is expected 

 to result from this large-scale project. 



Humpback Whale Stock Assessments 



The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act direct the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare 

 stock assessments for all marine mammal stocks 

 occurring in U.S. waters (see Chapter IV). The 

 assessments are to provide information on take levels 

 in commercial fisheries and in other human-related 

 activities and to include estimates of the minimum 

 stock size, maximum net productivity rate, and 

 potential biological removal level which, if taken, 

 would still allow a stock to remain within its optimum 

 sustainable population level. The assessments are to 

 determine whether stocks are "strategic" stocks, 

 which could require special management attention to 

 reduce incidental take rates. 



As indicated previously, the Commission in 1994 

 reviewed draft marine mammal stock assessments 

 prepared by the National Marine Fisheries Service and 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service. In letters dated 1 and 

 12 December 1994, the Commission provided com- 

 ments to the National Marine Fisheries Service on 

 draft assessments of humpback whale stocks occurring 

 in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. The 

 Commission indicated that the western North Atlantic 

 humpback whale stock assessment should provide 

 better justified estimates of population size and 

 productivity and more thorough assessments of 

 human-related threats to the population. 



With regard to the central North Pacific stock, the 

 Commission noted that the draft assessment should 

 provide information on the demography and threats to 

 whales wintering in Hawaiian waters. The draft 

 assessment of the eastern North Pacific (Califor- 

 nia/Mexico) humpback whale population provided a 

 reasonably complete summary and evaluation of 

 available information. 



Final assessments for North Pacific marine mam- 

 mal stocks were distributed by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service in July 1995, including three hump- 

 back whale stock assessments. Assessments for North 

 Atlantic stocks were distributed in September 1995. 

 Humpback whales, listed as endangered under the 

 Endangered Species Act, were automatically classified 

 as strategic stocks. 



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