be placed in jeopardy as a result of animals being struck and killed by boats and the 
degradation of critical habitat. In the past five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
and the Florida Department of Natural Resources, with help from numerous other Federal 
and state agencies and private groups, have greatly increased manatee protection and 
recovery efforts. Particular attention is being given to establishing effective boat speed 
regulations and controlling development in essential manatee habitat. 
In 1992, the Commission and its Committee of Scientific Advisors met in Florida 
and thoroughly reviewed the Federal and State manatee recovery programs. The review 
indicated that principal needs are being addressed aggressively and that the recovery 
program continues to become more effective each year. Although it is too soon to know 
if changes recently put in place are responsible, vessel-related manatee mortality declined 
28 percent in 1992 from 1991 levels — the largest decline since reliable records on causes 
of manatee deaths were first collected in 1978. 
Hawaiian Monk Seals — The Hawaiian monk seal, the most endangered seal in 
U.S. waters, now occurs almost entirely on and around the small, largely uninhabited atolls 
and islands northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Most areas where the species comes 
ashore to rest and pup are in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge administered 
by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Counts of monk seals declined by half between the late 
1950s and early 1980s, increased slightly in the mid-1980s, and began declining again in 
the late 1980s. Threats to this species differ from island to island; they include human 
disturbance, insufficient food, interactions with commercial fisheries, and mobbing attacks 
on adult females and juveniles by aggressive males attempting to mate. 
To address the threats, the National Marine Fisheries Service, with help from the 
Fish and Wildlife Service, began efforts to rebuild certain populations by relocating pups 
to increase their chances of survival, by prohibiting longline fishing near monk seal habitat, 
and by developing a program to try to identify the cause of and prevent mobbing behavior. 
Since getting adequate support for these efforts and other recovery tasks has been difficult, 
the Commission held a comprehensive program review in late 1991 to identify issues which 
should be afforded high priority. 
Several key recovery efforts depend on maintaining the integrity of Tern Island. 
This island, with its strategically vital runway, lies roughly at the mid-point of the 
Archipelago and is the Fish and Wildlife Service’s only permanently occupied field station 
in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, the seawall protecting the 
island is now disintegrating and the buildings and runway are threatened. The initially 
encouraging start that was made in 1991 to plan repairs to save the island was not followed 
by great progress in 1992. 
Vaquitas — Perhaps the most endangered small cetacean in the world is the vaquita 
or Gulf of California harbor porpoise. This small porpoise occurs in the northern Gulf of 
California, or Sea of Cortez, and may number only a few hundred animals. Vaquitas are 
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