6. marine mammals have proven themselves to be 

 resources of great international significance, 

 esthetic and recreational as well as economic, 

 and it is the sense of the Congress that they 

 should be protected and encouraged to develop 

 to the greatest extent feasible commensurate 

 with sound policies of resource management and 

 that the primary objective of their management 

 should be to maintain the health and stability 

 of the marine ecosystem. Whenever consistent 

 with this primary objective, it should be the 

 goal to obtain an optimum sustainable 

 population keeping in mind that optimum 

 carrying capacity of the habitat. 



RESEARCH PRIORITIES 



In September, 1979, the Marine Mammal Commission sponsored a workshop to 

 identify and summarize information and research needs for East and Gulf Coast 

 cetaceans and pinnipeds. The participants agreed that insufficient evidence 

 was available to define the status and trends of cetacean and pinniped 

 populations and identified those human activities that may threaten marine 

 mammal species and populations as: incidental take, fishery conflicts 

 (including competition), disturbance/harassment, and habitat degradation/ 

 destruction. The final report on the proceedings and findings of the workshop 

 has recently been released (Prescott et al. 1979). 



13-29 



10-80 



