related threats to humpback whales in the northwest Atlantic 
Ocean; identify research needs and the optimal U.S. research 
program relative to the conservation and protection of 
living resources, including whales and seals, in the oceans 
surrounding Antarctica; assist the States of Washington and 
Oregon in developing and implementing a program for assessing 
the nature and extent of marine-mammal fishery conflicts in 
the Columbia River and nearby areas; review the interaction 
between man-made noise and vibration and Arctic marine 
wildlife; review the National Marine Fisheries Service's 
tuna-porpoise and California coastal marine mammal research 
programs; review information and research related to the 
Bering Sea ecosystem; and review and evaluate on-going 
research related to the conservation of the North Pacific 
fur seal. Details of these activities, and the recommendations 
resulting therefrom, are provided elsewhere in this report. 
Commission-Sponsored Research and Study Projects 
The Departments of Commerce and the Interior have 
primary responsibility, under the authority of the Act, for 
acquiring the biological and ecological data needed to 
protect and conserve marine mammals and the ecosystems of 
which they are a part. This responsibility has been delegated 
to the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service. 
The Commission, as noted earlier, convenes workshops 
and contracts for research and studies to identify and 
evaluate threats to marine mammal populations and supports 
such other research as it deems necessary and can afford. 
Since it was established, the Commission has contracted for 
more than 300 projects ranging in amounts from several 
hundred dollars to $128,000. The average contract cost has 
been about $9,000. - Total contract amounts were $258,787 in 
FY /4; $446,628 in. FY.75;.5479,449 in, FY 76+ $132,068 in the 
FY 76-77 transition quarter; $523,504 in FY 77; $407,678 in 
PY 78:3 S219, 897 34n, PY s/9; and 5390, 000 in FY S07, including -a 
special $300,000 appropriation for activities bearing on the 
protection and recovery of the West Indian manatee, the 
Hawaiian monk seal, and East Coast cetaceans. The research 
budget for FY 81 includes a special appropriation of $100,000 
to be spent on projects in one or more of the following 
areas: marine mammal-fisheries interactions, the optimum 
concept, return of marine mammal management to the State of 
Alaska, the California sea otter population, and Antarctic 
marine living resources. 
Contract work undertaken by the Commission in 1980 is 
summarized below. Final reports from Commission studies 
completed in 1980 and earlier are available from the National 
Technical Information Service. They are listed in Appendix B. 
= Soc 
