MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



in Prince William Sound, Alaska, for more than a 

 decade. The purpose of this contract was to support 

 analysis and reporting of ancillary data concerning 

 pup development and survival in the study area. If 

 the development and survival patterns differ from 

 those in California, they may help to explain why the 

 growth of the California population has been substan- 

 tially slower than the growth of those in Alaska and 

 British Columbia. 



Development of a Database on Harbor Seals 

 Hunted in Alaska 



(Anne Hoover-Miller, Pacific Rim Research, 

 Seward, Alaska) 



As discussed in Chapter III, harbor seal popula- 

 tions in certain Alaska areas have declined significant- 

 ly in recent years. The cause of the declines has not 

 been documented but appears to be due at least in part 

 to decreased food availability. Postmortem examina- 

 tion and collection and analysis of tissue samples from 

 seals taken by Alaska Natives can provide valuable 

 information on the age/sex structure, productivity, and 

 general health of the harvested population. The 

 Alaska Department of Fish and Game has gathered 

 and archived information about traditional uses of 

 harbor seals, harvest techniques, and related informa- 

 tion. In 1994 Alaska Natives formed a commission to 

 help identify and implement needed research, manage- 

 ment, and monitoring programs. This contract 

 provided partial support for a review of information 

 collected by Native hunters and stored by the Alaska 

 Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska Native 

 Harbor Seal Commission. The review is to determine 

 the feasibility of (a) developing a data summary that 

 can be provided to scientists and managers without 

 compromising confidential information, (b) conducting 

 follow-up surveys of hunters to clarify information in 

 the database and obtain additional information, (c) 

 establishing a data-collection protocol for use by 

 Native hunters, and (d) developing a supplemental 

 database including narrative and quantitative informa- 

 tion about harbor seals and related environmental 

 parameters observed by Alaska Natives. 



Review of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve 

 Vessel Management Plan 

 (Janice M. Straley, J. Straley Investigations, 

 Sitka, Alaska) 



During summer, a portion of the central North 

 Pacific humpback whale stock inhabits the Glacier Bay 

 National Park and Preserve. In the late 1970s the 

 number of humpback whales in Glacier Bay declined 

 significantly, and it was suspected that noise and 

 disturbance from cruise ships and other vessel traffic 

 may have caused whales to leave and avoid the bay. 

 Therefore, in 1985 the National Park Service estab- 

 lished regulations governing use of the bay by cruise 

 ships in an effort to minimize disturbance of whales. 

 Between 1988 and 1991 the number of whales using 

 the bay decreased again. In 1991 the National Park 

 Service began evaluating alternative approaches for 

 managing vessel traffic in the bay, and in June 1995 

 a draft revision of the vessel management plan and an 

 associated environmental impact statement were 

 released for comment. Among other things, the draft 

 vessel management plan proposed a 72 percent in- 

 crease in the number of cruise ships permitted into the 

 bay. The contractor, an expert on the biology, 

 distribution, and ecology of humpback whales in 

 Alaska, provided a comprehensive evaluation of the 

 draft plan for the Commission. Her analysis was 

 considered by the Commission, in consultation with 

 its Committee of Scientific Advisors, to develop 

 comments on the revised vessel management plan. 

 (See the discussion on humpback whales in Chapter 

 III for additional information regarding the Glacier 

 Bay vessel management plan.) 



RESEARCH PLANNING AND COORDINATION 



Formation of the Russian Marine Mammal Council 

 (Viacheslav Zemsky, Ph.D., Russian Marine 

 Mammal Council, Moscow) 



Environmental protection and conservation of 

 marine mammals have been a low priority in the 

 Russian Federation recently because of political and 

 economic uncertainties. Recognizing the need for an 

 organized national marine mammal program, promi- 

 nent Russian biologists established the Russian Marine 

 Mammal Council in October 1995 to identify and 



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