to assess the effects of biotoxins on marine mammals and other 

 marine organisms, particularly those that may be eaten by humans. 



Survey of Benthic Communities in Prince William Sound 



(John S. Oliver, Ph.D., ABA Consultants, Capitola, California) 



As noted in Chapter IV, on 24 March 1989, the oil tanker 

 Exxon Valdez grounded in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling 

 about 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil. The oil moved 

 through the southwest portion of the Sound and along the coast of 

 the western Gulf of Alaska, causing extensive harm to wildlife 

 and other natural resources. A major question is how and to what 

 extent the oil affected habitats and will persist in them, 

 particularly those harboring benthic and other communities of 

 prey species utilized by marine mammals (e.g. , sea otters) . To 

 help obtain information needed to answer this question, the 

 Commission supported the contractor's baseline surveys of benthic 

 invertebrate communities in Prince William Sound and adjacent 

 areas. The survey results will be compared with the results of 

 later surveys to help determine how the released oil affected the 

 distribution, composition, densities, and replacement rates of 

 representative species of benthic flora and fauna in areas 

 contacted by the oil. 



Distribution of Humpback Whales Off the West Coast of Makalawena, 



Hawaii 



(Mari Smultea, Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, Moss Landing, 



California) 



The recovery of endangered humpback whales in the North 

 Pacific Ocean may be affected by increasing vessel traffic and 

 other human activities around their breeding and calving areas in 

 Hawaii. In 1988, the Commission contracted for a study to gather 

 baseline information on humpback whale behavior and habitat use 

 patterns in waters adjacent to a relatively undeveloped area of 

 the Hawaiian Islands. The draft report from this study provided 

 information on the distribution and abundance of social groupings 

 of whales, including mother-calf pairs, that will be of value for 

 detecting possible future changes in the whales' use of this 

 area. The research results raised a number of questions 

 regarding the comparison of "normal, undisturbed" behavior of 

 humpbacks to the behavior of whales exposed to existing human 

 activities in the Makalawena area and the degree to which whales 

 may become acclimated to disturbance from other whales as well as 

 from human activities. The Commission therefore provided 

 additional funds to undertake additional analyses. The final 

 report, expected to be completed early in 1990, will present the 

 results of these additional analyses. It will also provide 

 baseline information on the distribution and behavior of humpback 



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