Chapter III — Species of Special Concern 



ed a recovery plan based on a draft plan prepared by 

 the recovery team using the Commission's species 

 account and other information. 



As part of its sea lion recovery program, the 

 Service increased research efforts to monitor the 

 population and determine possible causes of the 

 decline. In addition, the Service designated major 

 rookeries and adjacent waters as critical habitat; 

 established regulations to limit access to rookeries, 

 prohibit fishermen from shooting near sea lions, and 

 restrict commercial fishing around major rookeries; 

 limited proposed increases in commercial catch quotas 

 for pollock, a major sea lion food resource; and 

 adjusted area fishing quotas to divert fishing opera- 

 tions away from sea lion foraging areas. 



Despite these measures, there has been no indica- 

 tion that the population has begun to recover. As dis- 

 cussed below, the Service has therefore begun steps to 

 upgrade the species' threatened status under the 

 Endangered Species Act and to strengthen protection 

 measures. 



reversed or slowed. Later in 1993 pup counts at 

 selected rookeries indicated that the decline was 

 continuing. In light of these findings, the Service on 

 1 November 1993 published a Federal Register notice 

 announcing its intent to review the status of Steller sea 

 lions under the Endangered Species Act to determine 

 if the species should be reclassified as endangered. It 

 also announced plans to conduct another range-wide 

 survey of Steller sea lions in 1994. 



In its 6 January 1994 comments to the Service on 

 the notice, the Commission recommended that the 

 status review be completed promptly using available 

 data, and that draft criteria for judging whether the 

 species should be listed as endangered be circulated to 

 the Commission and the recovery team for review. 

 The Service replied on 31 January, advising that it 

 planned to await results of the 1994 population survey 

 before reviewing the species' status because the 

 decline between 1989 and 1992 showed some signs of 

 slowing. It also stated that it would provide reclassifi- 

 cation criteria to the Commission and the recovery 

 team for review. 



Endangered Species Act Status Review 



As noted above, in 1990 the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service designated Steller sea lions as 

 threatened under the Endangered Species Act and 

 established the Steller Sea Lion Recovery Team to 

 help develop a recovery program. In 1992 the 

 Service also adopted a Steller Sea Lion Recovery Plan 

 prepared by the recovery team. One element of the 

 recovery team's recommended plan not adopted by the 

 Service was criteria for delisting and reclassifying the 

 species under the Endangered Species Act. On this 

 point the Service concluded that further analysis was 

 needed, and over the next two years the Service 

 undertook several related studies. 



In 1992 the Service conducted another population 

 survey that found Steller sea lion counts were continu- 

 ing to decline in many areas. Early in 1993 it com- 

 pleted a population viability analysis to assess long- 

 term implications of the decline. Using sea lion 

 counts made between 1985 and 1992, the analysis 

 concluded that there was a high probability that the 

 Steller sea lion population would become extinct 

 within 60 to 100 years if the downward trend was not 



As preliminary results of the 1994 population 

 survey became available, it was apparent that the 

 decline was continuing at an alarming rate. In addi- 

 tion, new analyses of genetic samples and population 

 trends of colonies throughout the species' range 

 indicated that Steller sea lions comprised two distinct 

 stocks exhibiting separate population trends. During 

 1994 neither the Commission nor the recovery team 

 received proposed reclassification criteria from the 

 Service although the Commission repeated its request 

 by letters of 10 June and 30 November 1994. 



In addition, the Steller sea lion recovery team 

 reviewed information on the species' status at its 29- 

 30 November 1994 meeting. Based on its review, the 

 team wrote the Service on 20 December, advising that 

 it had concluded that Steller sea lions should be 

 managed as two separate stocks — an eastern stock 

 from Cape Suckling, Alaska, east and south to Cali- 

 fornia, and a western stock from Cape Suckling west 

 to Russia. The team also concluded that, based on the 

 criteria it had recommended in the draft recovery plan 

 and criteria used by the World Conservation Union, 

 the western stock should be listed as endangered, and 

 the eastern stock should remain listed as threatened. 



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