MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
respect to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, it was not 
clear what was being done to be better prepared to 
minimize and mitigate the effects of future oil spills. 
The Commission recommended that the Service, if it 
had not already done so, should evaluate actions that 
had been taken to assess, minimize, and mitigate the 
effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and related 
cleanup operations on sea otters and their habitat and, 
based on this evaluation, should develop a plan for 
assessing, minimizing, and mitigating the effects of 
possible future oil spills on sea otters. The Commis- 
sion further recommended that the Service develop a 
draft contingency plan and distribute it to the Com- 
mission and others for review and comment. 
As is also true in California, sea otters in Alaska 
may affect and may be affected by shellfish fisheries 
competing for the same resources. A possible solu- 
tion to this may be some form of zonal management 
whereby sea otters and fisheries are afforded special 
protection in different areas. In its 5 May 1992 letter 
the Commission recommended that the Service, if it 
had not already done so, compile and evaluate avail- 
able information on present and projected sea otter 
and human demographic patterns in Alaska. This 
would allow them to identify areas where conflicts 
may occur and where it may be desirable and feasible 
to regulate sea otters and/or human activities to avoid 
or minimize conflicts. 
The Marine Mammal Protection Act’s moratorium 
on taking does not apply to the taking of marine 
mammals by Alaska Natives for subsistence or handi- 
craft purposes, provided the taking is not wasteful. 
However, there is uncertainty as to the numbers of 
animals being taken in different areas and whether any 
of the taking is wasteful or is depleting local sub- 
populations. The Commission therefore recommended 
that the Service, if it had not already done so, work 
with the Alaska Sea Otter Commission to ensure that 
Native hunters are fully aware of and are complying 
with the Service’s marking and tagging regulations 
(see Chapter VIII). The Commission further recom- 
mended that the Service develop and implement a 
program to collect biological samples from animals 
taken by Alaska Natives. 
24 
In its letter the Commission pointed out that, if the 
Service decides to proceed with some form of zonal 
management, more reliable information will be needed 
on population distribution and abundance. In this 
regard the Commission recommended that the Service 
organize and convene a workshop to decide upon the 
sampling methodology and effort that would be 
required to first determine the maximum net produc- 
tivity level of the Alaska sea otter population and, 
second, assure that it is not reduced below that level. 
On 28 May 1992 the Regional Director of the Fish 
and Wildlife Service’s Alaska Region wrote to the 
Commission, acknowledging receipt of the Com-. 
mission’s draft sea otter conservation plan. The letter 
noted that the draft plan had been provided to mem- 
bers of the Service’s Sea Otter Management Planning 
Team and that it would be discussed at a team meeting 
scheduled for 4-5 June 1992. 
With respect to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the 
Director pointed out that the damage assessment 
program was formally ending and that proposed sea 
otter studies had not been approved for funding in 
1992. The Service believed, however, that it was 
important to continue two of the sea otter studies and 
had therefore requested and received funding from the 
Department of the Interior headquarters office to do 
so. These were the sea otter beach walk survey, 
designed to assess ongoing mortality within the oil 
spill zone, and a pup survival study. 
With regard to the Commission’s recommendation 
concerning contingency planning, the Service noted 
that its Sea Otter Management Office in California is 
charged with developing oil and hazardous substances 
spill contingency plans for a number of species, and 
that a meeting had recently been held in Anchorage, 
Alaska, to initiate development of contingency plans 
for Alaska. Among the features to be included in the 
contingency plans is a detailed sea otter rescue manual 
that can be used in conjunction with training videos to 
enhance the Service’s response capability in the event 
of a future oil spill. 
In its 28 May letter the Service also noted that it 
was considering some form of zonal management as 
a way of resolving resource conflicts between sea 
