grass beds as foraging areas for this species. This article will 

 be published in the popular natural history literature in 1990. 



Additional Commission-Sponsored Research and Study Projects 



Workshop on Measures to Assess and Mitigate the Adverse Effects 

 of Arctic Oil and Gas Activities on Polar Bears 

 (Jack W. Lentfer, Convener, Homer, Alaska) 



Oil and gas exploration and development may have adverse 

 effects on polar bears and their habitat. Also, these and other 

 human activities in the Arctic increase the potential for bear- 

 human interactions which, in turn, may result in the death or 

 injury of both polar bears and people. In recognition of these 

 concerns, the Marine Mammal Commission sponsored a workshop on 

 24-25 January 1989 in Anchorage, Alaska, to identify and describe 

 additional research needed to reliably assess the possible 

 effects of oil and gas exploration and development on polar bears 

 and their habitat, and to identify and assess the likely utility 

 of measures that could be taken to avoid or minimize the adverse 

 effects of bear-human interactions on both bears and people. 

 Participants included representatives of the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, the Minerals Management Service, the Commission, the 

 Inuvialuit Game Council of Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, 

 the Alaska Department of Renewable Resources, the Alaska 

 Department of Fish and Game, and the North Slope Borough. The 

 workshop report, expected to be completed early in 1990, is 

 intended to be used by interested and responsible Federal and 

 State agencies, industry, and Native groups to identify and 

 cooperatively undertake actions necessary to insure the health 

 and welfare of polar bear populations in Alaska. 



Second International Conference on Marine Debris 



(Suzanne Montgomery, Woodstock, Virginia, and Burr Heneman, 



Bolinas, California) 



In November 1984, the National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 based on the recommendation and with the financial support of the 

 Marine Mammal Commission, convened the Workshop on the Fate and 

 Impact of Marine Debris in Honolulu, Hawaii. The workshop was 

 international in scope and provided the first comprehensive 

 review of information regarding the entanglement, death, and 

 injury of marine life in lost or discarded fishing gear and other 

 debris in the ocean (see Chapter VI) . The workshop alerted 

 agencies and organizations in the United States and around the 

 world to the significance of the problem and prompted intensive 

 actions to assess and mitigate its effects. Much new information 

 has been developed since the 1984 Workshop and, late in 1986, the 

 Commission recommended that the Service begin planning a second 



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