also has been conducted or supported by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 

 Commission, the North Slope Borough, the Minerals Management 

 Service, the State of Alaska, and the oil and gas industry. 



As noted in previous Annual Reports, the Marine Mammal 

 Commission played a major role in planning and coordinating 

 bowhead whale research. Among other things, the Commission 

 convened an interagency meeting in August 1977 to identify 

 critical research needs. Based on meeting results, it developed 

 and transmitted a recommended bowhead whale research plan to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service in September 1977. The plan, 

 modified and adopted by the Service in 1977, was the first such 

 plan for bowhead whales. In 1978, the Bureau of Land Management 

 also initiated research on bowhead whales in response to 

 consultations with the Service conducted pursuant to section 7 of 

 the Endangered Species Act on the effects of proposed offshore 

 oil and gas exploration and development activities in the 

 Beaufort Sea. 



It appeared that some elements of the Bureau's research 

 program duplicated research planned by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. Therefore, between 1978 and 1981, the 

 Commission recommended and helped organize a series of meetings 

 that resulted in coordination of the research programs of the two 

 agencies. In 1982, at the recommendation of the Marine Mammal 

 Commission, the National Marine Fisheries Service assumed 

 responsibility for organizing and convening the bowhead whale 

 research coordination meetings. 



In recent years, formal coordination meetings have not been 

 held and it is not clear that everything necessary is being done 

 to ensure that bowhead whale studies continue to be well-designed 

 and properly coordinated. In this regard, on 20 March 1989, the 

 Commission wrote to the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 providing comments on a scientific research permit application 

 involving bowhead whales. During review of the application and 

 discussion of planned bowhead whale research at the Commission's 

 Annual Meeting in Monterey, California, on 23-25 February 1989, 

 guest ions were raised as to whether the objectives of the 

 proposed study were realistic, given the described study design. 

 Also, given other bowhead whale studies scheduled for the same 

 general time and area, concerns were raised regarding possible 

 cumulative effects of planned research on the bowhead whale 

 population and the annual subsistence hunt by Alaska Eskimos. 



The Commission recommended that the Service issue the permit 

 with the condition that the funding agency (the Minerals 

 Management Service) , in consultation with the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, would constitute a Quality Review Board to 

 review the planned study design and recommend modifications as 

 may be needed. The Commission also recommended that the 

 Service's Alaska Regional Director convene a meeting of all 



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