MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1995 



tagging by Alaska Natives. The number of polar 

 bears tagged from 1990 through 1994 were 99, 76, 

 59, 65, and 120, respectively. 



Stock Assessments 



As discussed in Chapter IV and elsewhere in this 

 report, the 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act directed the Secretaries of Commerce 

 and the Interior to prepare marine mammal stock 

 assessments of all marine mammal stocks in U.S. 

 waters to serve as the scientific basis for a new 

 regime governing the taking of marine mammals 

 incidental to commercial fisheries. In August 1994 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service distributed to the Marine 

 Mammal Commission and others draft stock assess- 

 ments for marine mammal populations under its 

 jurisdiction, including polar bear stocks in the Beau- 

 fort Sea and the Chukchi and Bering Seas. The 

 Marine Mammal Commission, in consultation with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed the drafts 

 and, by letter of 1 December 1994, provided com- 

 ments to the Service. These are discussed in detail in 

 the previous annual report. 



On 4 October 1995 the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 published final stock assessments for the two polar 

 bear populations in Alaska. With regard to the 

 Chukchi/Bering Sea stock shared with Russia, the 

 assessment concluded that a reliable estimate of stock 

 size was not possible because of uncertainty of the 

 data. Therefore, a potential biological removal level 

 could not be calculated. However, the assessment 

 concluded that the stock appears to have increased 

 during the past 20 years despite an average subsis- 



tence take of 86 bears a year, and currently appears to 

 be increasing slightly or stabilizing at a relatively high 

 level. As a result, the Chukchi/Bering Sea stock was 

 classified as a non-strategic stock. 



With respect to the Beaufort Sea polar bear stock 

 shared with Canada, the Service's assessment set a 

 minimum population estimate of 1 ,579 and a potential 

 biological removal level of 72 bears a year. The 

 annual subsistence take by both U.S. and Canadian 

 Natives is estimated at 63 animals, and the stock 

 appears to be growing at a rate of 2.4 percent. 

 Therefore, the Beaufort Sea stock also was classified 

 as a non-strategic stock. 



Habitat Conservation Strategy 



Section 101(a)(5) of the Marine Mammal Protec- 

 tion Act directs the Secretaries of the Interior and 

 Commerce to authorize, in certain instances, the 

 unintentional taking of small numbers of marine 

 mammals by U.S. citizens incidental to activities other 

 than commercial fishing operations. As noted in 

 previous annual reports, in 1993 the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service issued regulations to authorize and govern the 

 take of small numbers of polar bears and walruses by 

 U.S. citizens engaged in offshore oil and gas activities 

 in Alaska. In issuing the regulations, the Secretary of 

 the Interior directed the Fish and Wildlife Service to 

 develop and begin implementing a polar bear habitat 

 conservation strategy to further the goals of Article II 

 of the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar 

 Bears. This is discussed in the small-take section in 

 Chapter XI. 



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