southwest portion of the proposed sanctuary. The Great South 

 Channel southeast of the proposed sanctuary also has been 

 petitioned for critical habitat designation. While the proposed 

 sanctuary does not include the most intensively used right whale 

 habitat, its location between the above two areas and occasional 

 sightings around the Bank suggest that the proposed sanctuary 

 area may nonetheless be important for right whales. 



Pages 55-63. Commercial Fishing: This section discusses 

 commercial fishing in the Gulf of Maine. It notes that over 280 

 commercial vessels fish in the area, and it lists the fish 

 species most frequently taken at Stellwagen Bank. The section 

 does not, but should, discuss the direct and Indirect effects of 

 commercial fishing on marine meimmals, sea birds, and sea turtles. 

 In this regard it should note that: 1) the presence and 

 associated noise of fishing vessels can harass marine mammals; 2] 

 fishing operations may incidentally take marine mammals causing 

 the death or injury of individual animals; 3) lost or 

 intentionally dumped nets, net fragments, and other debris may 

 entangle marine mammals or other species; and 4) overfishing may 



deplete prey species impoi-tant to whales and other species. {See 

 for example the discussion in the enclosed draft Right Whale 

 Recovery Plan) . 



Some of these effects may be common. For example, as 

 required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service has classified all commercial fisheries 

 according to the likelihood of incidentally taking marine mammals 

 (see Federal Register Vol. 54, No. 74, pp. 16072-16086). With 

 regard to fisheries around Stellwagen Bank, the Gulf of Maine 

 groundfish and mackerel gillnet fisheries are listed as fisheries 

 with frequent incidental take (i.e.. Category I fisheries). The 

 southern New England squid and mackerel trawl fisheries and the 

 tuna, shark, and swordfish longline fisheries are listed as 

 occasionally taking marine mammals (i.e.. Category II fisheries). 



Among the marine mammals incidentally taken in these 

 fisheries are harbor seals, harbor porpoise, common dolphins, 

 Atlantic whitesided dolphins, pilot whales, humpback whales, and 

 right whales. Incidental take of harbor porpoise may be 

 particularly significant, and has prompted a status review by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service to determine if one or more 

 populations should be listed as threatened or endangered under 

 the Endangered Species Act. Between August 1989 and August 1990 

 observers deployed aboard a small portion of the boats engaged in 

 Category I gillnet fishing in the statistical area containing 

 Stellwagen Bank (i.e. area 514), reported 6 harbor porpoise 

 killed between October and March. 



The frequency of interaction between large whales and 

 commercial fisheries also is indicated by Heyning and Lewis 

 (1990) , who report sixty-five incidents of baleen whale 

 entanglement in fishing gear off of southern California over the 

 last decade. In addition, Kraus (1990) reports twelve records of 

 right whale entanglement on the U.S. east coast (mostly off the 

 northeast U.S.), at least three of which resulted in death. He 

 also reports that 57t of )cnown individual right whales with good 

 photographs of the tail stock area (67 of 118 whales) exhibit 

 scars on the peduncle that suggest past entanglements. 



Such fishery-related effects should be important sanctuary 

 management concerns and should be discussed here or elsewhere in 

 the statement. 



Page 65. First Paragraph: The first sentence indicates that all 

 marine mammals are protected by both the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act and the Endangered Species Act. This is incorrect. The 

 sentence should be changed by inserting a period after "1972" in 

 the third line and inserting something like the following in 

 place of the words "and also by": 



"Those species listed as threatened or endangered are 

 also protected by . . . " 



Page 73. Last Paragraph: The second sentence notes that U.S. 

 Coast Guard regulations restricting the disposal of ship- 

 generated garbage at sea "would allow the dumping. 7. of most forms 

 of refuse with the exception of plastics, on all or part of the 

 (Stellwagen) Bank." The statement is not entirely accurate. 

 Coast Guard regulations, which implement Annex V of the 

 Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, also 

 restrict disposal of all floating dunnage, packaging material, 

 etc . that floats within 25 miles of shore. Because no part of 

 the proposed sanctuary lies beyond 25 miles from shore, only 

 glass, crockery, metal, and rags that sink, and food wastes may 

 be dumped by ships in the proposed sanctuary area under the 

 existing regulatory system. Therefore, something like the words 

 "and garbage that floats" should be inserted after the words 

 "with the exception of plastics" in the second sentence of the 

 paragraph. 



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