To resolve these uncertainties, while at the same time 

 capturing, cleaning, and rehabilitating as many oiled sea otters 

 as possible, the Marine Mammal Commission recommended that the 

 Service: 



(1) conduct aerial and/or boat surveys to identify areas where 

 sea otters had been and were being oiled and areas where sea 

 otters had not yet been, but were likely to be oiled; 



(2) radio-tag and track a representative sample of sea otters in 

 one or more areas where otters had not yet been but likely 

 would be contacted by oil to determine what otters did and 

 where they went after they were oiled (e.g., do they haul 

 out on remote beaches, do they ingest significant quantities 

 of oil while grooming, do they remain at sea and sink or 

 float after death, and are they eaten by eagles or killer 

 whales?) ; 



(3) sample benthic communities in one or more of the selected 

 study areas, before and at periodic intervals after the 

 areas were contaminated with oil, to determine how the 

 quantity and quality of sea otter prey (food) species were 

 affected by the spill and related activities such as the use 

 of chemical dispersants; 



(4) consult with scientists familiar with the seasonal 

 distribution and movements of sea otters in Prince William 

 Sound to identify important feeding, resting, and breeding 

 areas that possibly could be protected by deploying oil 

 containment booms, and, where feasible, deploy containment 

 booms to prevent oil from reaching these areas; 



(5) develop a contingency plan and obtain necessary 

 authorization to capture and relocate large numbers of 

 otters in the event that the spill approaches high-density 

 sea otter areas in eastern Prince William Sound or the 

 Kodiak/Afognak Island area and thus threatens to jeopardize 

 the continued existence and viability of these sea otter 

 populations; 



(6) establish an additional facility or facilities to clean and 

 rehabilitate oiled otters; 



(7) secure the services of scientists, technicians, and 

 veterinarians experienced in capturing, sedating, cleaning, 

 and caring for sea otters, to staff the facility (ies) , train 

 volunteers, and assist in capture/transportation activities; 



(8) make available a sufficient number of boats and aircraft to 

 search for, capture, and transport oiled sea otters (and 

 other marine mammals and seabirds) to designated 

 rehabilitation centers; establish standard procedures for 



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