MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



a schedule for completion of a final environmental 

 assessment. 



The court ruled in favor of the Coast Guard on 

 plaintiff's claims arising under the Whaling Conven- 

 tion Act. The court found that the Coast Guard 

 activities did not constitute whaling, which is prohibit- 

 ed by the Act, even though "whaling" is defined to 

 include killing of whales. 



On 15 September 1995 the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service issued a biological opinion on the 

 Coast Guard's activities along the Atlantic Coast. The 

 Service concluded that Coast Guard activities were not 

 likely to jeopardize any endangered or threatened 

 species, but specified that, if another endangered 

 whale was struck, consultations should be reinitiated. 

 Subsequently a Coast Guard vessel struck an unidenti- 

 fied whale, thought possibly to have been a humpback 

 whale, off Cape Cod. 



On 22 September 1995 the Coast Guard circulated 

 and requested comments on a draft environmental 

 assessment concerning the potential impacts of its 

 activities along the Atlantic coast. The assessment 

 identified steps the Coast Guard would take to avoid 

 collisions with whales and, based on those measures, 

 proposed a finding of no significant impact. The 

 proposed measures include plans for using safe, slow 

 vessel speeds when transiting marine sanctuaries and 

 critical habitat areas during non-emergency opera- 

 tions, posting lookouts on all vessels, giving wildlife 

 a wide berth during non-emergency operations, 

 notifying other vessels by radio of the location of 

 whales and broadcasting seasonal notices about the 

 need for caution in critical habitat areas, carefully 

 reviewing permit applications for regattas and boat 

 races to ensure events are not held in sensitive areas 

 when vulnerable species are likely to be present, and 

 continuing to serve on the southeast U.S. right whale 

 recovery plan implementation team and participate in 

 southeastern U.S. right whale early-warning surveys. 



On 24 October 1995 the Commission, in consulta- 

 tion with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, com- 

 mented on the draft environmental assessment. The 

 Commission noted that the proposed measures would 

 improve protection for right whales and other marine 

 wildlife and supported their adoption. The Commis- 



sion also suggested additional measures that might be 

 taken. In this regard, it suggested that the Coast 

 Guard participate on other relevant planning teams, 

 such as the northeastern right whale and humpback 

 whale implementation teams, consider using forward- 

 looking sonar on some vessels, and assist with logistic 

 support for research and monitoring programs set 

 forth in endangered species recovery plans. 



Regarding the latter point, the Commission noted 

 that information from such surveys could be an 

 important source of up-to-date data on areas where 

 vessel-wildlife encounters may be most likely. Noting 

 Coast Guard plans to alert vessels by radio of the 

 location of whales and the potential for such broad- 

 casts to increase close approaches by whale-watchers, 

 the Commission suggested that the Coast Guard 

 consider developing guidelines on the situations, 

 methods, and frequency of such communications so as 

 to avoid collisions by transiting ships, but also to 

 avoid attracting large numbers of whale watching 

 boats to individual animals. 



On 2 June 1995 the Coast Guard applied to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service seeking a small- 

 take authorization under section 101(a)(5)(A) of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Action on the 

 application was deferred pending completion of 

 consultation under the Endangered Species Act. At 

 the end of 1995, the Service was reviewing the Coast 

 Guard request. 



Humpback Whale 

 (Megaptera novaeangliae) 



Humpback whales occur in all oceans of the world. 

 They typically migrate from calving and nursing 

 regions in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes to tem- 

 perate to polar latitudes where they feed during 

 warmer months. Thirteen humpback whale stocks 

 have been identified worldwide. Four of these occur 

 in U.S. waters: the western, central, and eastern 

 North Pacific stocks and western North Atlantic stock. 



All humpback whale stocks were severely depleted 

 by commercial whaling. The International Whaling 

 Commission adopted a series of measures between the 



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