reporting and responding to reports of oiled sea otters; and 

 evaluate possible alternative methods for capturing, 

 handling, sedating, cleaning, and caring for oiled otters 

 (and other marine mammals) . 



(9) tag all otters handled with individually recognizable tags, 

 and radio-tag and track a subset of rehabilitated otters to 

 determine what proportion survives and whether any or all of 

 the animals attempt to return to areas where they may again 

 be oiled; 



(10) consult with persons with first-hand knowledge of the 

 distribution, movements, habitat requirements, and historic 

 range of sea otters in Alaska to identify areas that may be 

 suitable for releasing rehabilitated otters; 



(11) maintain on site a veterinary pathologist to do necropsies 

 and properly prepare and preserve specimen materials for 

 subsequent laboratory examination to document cause or 

 causes of death; secure the services of additional 

 veterinarians experienced in sea otter biology and medicine, 

 as necessary, to assist with rehabilitation efforts and 

 necropsies; collect tissue and stomach content samples, 

 under the supervision of a veterinary pathologist, and 

 provide these to the Fish and Wildlife Service's Veterinary 

 Services Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, or other 

 qualified, independent laboratories to conduct histo- 

 pathological and toxicological analyses; and continue such 

 work until there is no evidence that oil or chemicals used 

 to disperse the spill are causing or contributing to sea 

 otter mortality; 



(12) collect skulls and reproductive tracts from all otters found 

 dead in or near areas contacted by the oil spill for 

 examination by qualified biologists to determine the ages, 

 reproductive history, and reproductive condition of the 

 animals at the time of death; 



(13) identify and periodically survey beaches where sea otter 

 carcass counts have been conducted in the past to gather 

 information on the number of animals dying or washing up 

 dead on these beaches; and compare these data with data 

 collected previously to estimate the increase in mortality 

 rate and total mortality possibly attributable to the oil 

 spill; and 



(14) organize and convene a planning meeting or workshop, 

 including outside experts as well as marine mammal 

 biologists from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game, and the Marine Mammal Commission, to (a) identify the 

 types of studies needed to document the long-term effects of 



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