marine mammal populations are a part. In this regard, marine 

 mammals compete for and depend upon many of the same fish and 

 shellfish resources that are harvested commercially. 

 Consequently, marine mammals may be affected indirectly as well 

 as directly by commercial fisheries. Although there have been 

 significant advances in understanding food chain dynamics and the 

 application of the best available management techniques, 

 fisheries stocks continue to collapse under the stress of high 

 levels of fishing, increasing pollution, and natural 

 environmental perturbations. Some scientists are questioning the 

 traditional view that an understanding of food chain dynamics is 

 the key to fishery yields in large marine ecosystems. To examine 

 this possibility, the Commission contributed partial support for 

 a symposium that will bring together experts in theoretical 

 ecology, resource biology, and fisheries management to, among 

 other things, evaluate possible alternative strategies for 

 management other than reliance on food chain dynamics. The 

 findings of the symposium will be relevant to the conservation of 

 marine mammal populations as well as the fisheries resources 

 themselves. The symposium will be held 15-20 February 1990 in 

 New Orleans in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 



Toxic Dinof laqellates and Marine Mammal Mortalities 

 (Alan W. White, Ph.D., Sea Grant Program, Woods Hole, 

 Massachusetts ) 



Two events in 1987-1988 involved unprecedented mortalities 

 of humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins, species that have 

 never been associated with typical mass strandings (see the 

 Annual Report for Calendar Year 1988). Late in 1987, at least 14 

 humpback whales died in less than five weeks in Massachusetts and 

 Cape Cod Bays. During an eight-month period between July 1987 

 and February 1988, at least 740 bottlenose dolphins died along 

 the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to northern Florida. The 

 unusual characteristics of these two events were such that 

 standard protocols for examining stranded animals were expanded 

 to include analysis for dinof lagellate neurotoxins that have in 

 the past been associated with mass kills of fish and other marine 

 animals. Evidence of neurotoxin poisoning was found in both 

 cases (see Chapter III) . On 8-9 May 1989 a group of experts was 

 convened at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to review 

 and assess the evidence for the possible link between natural 

 biotoxins and the whale and dolphin mortalities, to identify 

 possible threats to humans, and to recommend research needs and 

 priorities. The Commission assisted in compiling background 

 information for this workshop and provided funds to assist in the 

 publication and distribution of the workshop report. The report, 

 completed in November 1989, is being used by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, in consultation with the Commission and other 

 involved agencies, to assist in planning and developing programs 



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