MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1995 



rule to extend the incidental-take regulations for an 

 additional 42 months, through 15 December 1998. 



The Marine Mammal Commission provided 

 comments on the draft habitat conservation strategy by 

 letter of 16 May 1995. The Commission found the 

 draft strategy to provide a thorough and objective 

 assessment of important polar bear habitats and how 

 various human activities may affect those habitats. 

 The Commission also noted that the draft strategy 

 appropriately drew on Native knowledge of polar bear 

 habitats and habitat-use patterns and reported much of 

 that information for the first time. Although the draft 

 strategy provided a detailed discussion of important 

 polar bear habitats, the Commission expressed doubt 

 that the conservation measures proposed by the 

 Service would be effective in protecting those habitats. 



The Commission also took issue with the implica- 

 tion in the draft strategy that the small-take provisions 

 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act would be 

 applicable only in identified important habitat areas. 

 The Commission noted that authorization was neces- 

 sary for any taking of polar bears. However, inas- 

 much as polar bears are more likely to be abundant in 

 important habitat areas and to be engaged in biologi- 

 cally significant activities (e.g., hunting, feeding, and 

 denning) in these areas, the Commission concurred 

 that proposals to conduct activities in such areas 

 warranted heightened scrutiny. The Commission 

 noted in this regard that human activities in important 

 habitat areas could have non-negligible effects on 

 polar bears or unmitigable adverse impacts on the 

 availability of polar bears for Native subsistence, 

 precluding the issuance of a small-take authorization. 

 In such cases, incidental taking could only be autho- 

 rized by a waiver of the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act's moratorium, a lengthier and more complex 

 procedure. 



To ensure that oil and gas activities are carried out 

 in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act and the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar 

 Bears, the Commission recommended that the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service advise the Minerals Management 

 Service that each environmental impact statement 

 concerning a proposed lease sale in the Beaufort and 

 Chukchi Seas explicitly consider how exploration and 

 development might affect important habitat areas 



described in the habitat conservation strategy. The 

 Commission recommended further that, prior to 

 completing an environmental impact statement, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service be consulted to determine 

 measures that should be taken to prevent the degrada- 

 tion or destruction of important polar bear habitat or 

 other adverse effects on polar bears. Possible conser- 

 vation measures identified by the Commission includ- 

 ed deleting known denning areas from oil and gas 

 lease sales, prohibiting exploration and development 

 activities near known denning or feeding areas at 

 certain times of the year, requiring roads and pipe- 

 lines to be constructed perpendicular to the coastline 

 to minimize the effect on migrating polar bears, 

 requiring aircraft to avoid known denning and feeding 

 areas or maintain a conservative minimum altitude 

 over such areas, and prohibiting on-ice road construc- 

 tion and seismic profiling during the pupping season 

 of ringed seals, an important polar bear prey species. 

 The Commission advised that such measures, as 

 appropriate, should be incorporated into regulations or 

 letters of authorization for the incidental taking of 

 polar bears. 



Because of extensive public comment on the draft 

 habitat conservation strategy, the Service was unable 

 to complete the final strategy by 16 June when the 

 incidental-take regulations were to expire. Explaining 

 in a 14 June 1995 Federal Register notice that "Beau- 

 fort Sea oil and gas activities continue to pose no 

 more than a negligible impact to polar bear and 

 walrus," the Service opted to extend the effectiveness 

 of the incidental-take regulations for an additional 60 

 days to enable it to complete the final habitat conser- 

 vation strategy. 



The Service on 17 August 1995 published a final 

 rule extending the incidental-take regulations through 

 15 December 1998. That Federal Register notice also 

 announced the availability of the final habitat conser- 

 vation strategy for polar bears in Alaska. 



Rather than adopt specific protective measures, as 

 many commenters suggested, the Service in the final 

 strategy preferred to address habitat conservation on 

 a case-by-case basis. The Service will advise those 

 seeking letters of authorization to submit information 

 as to whether the planned activities will occur in or 

 near areas identified as important habitat, to describe 



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