MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
needed to restore the fur seal population. The Com- 
mission recommended that the document be substan- 
tially revised and recirculated for review and com- 
ment. The Commission received no response to its 
comments and recommendations until 5 October 1992 
when the Service forwarded another draft plan to the 
Commission for review and comment. 
The Commission reviewed the revised draft, and 
on 11 November 1992 provided comments to the 
Service. The Commission noted that, while the plan 
followed the outline suggested by the Commission in 
1985, the description of work to be done under most 
tasks was ambiguous. In many cases, work under 
different tasks seemed to overlap and it was often not 
clear whether it involved collection of new data or 
analysis of existing data. The Commission therefore 
recommended that the Service redraft the narrative 
portions of the plan to provide a more complete and 
self-explanatory description of the work being pre- 
pared under each task. It also recommended that the 
step-down outline be expanded to include tasks to 
develop a geographic information system and to 
coordinate and oversee plan implementation. 
As of the end of 1992 the Commission was await- 
ing further information from the Service regarding its 
plans for completing a fur seal conservation plan. 
Pacific Walrus 
(Odobenus rosmarus divergens) 
The Pacific walrus is one of two or perhaps three 
subspecies of walruses. It inhabits the Bering and 
Chukchi Seas between Russia and the United States. 
Based on censuses conducted in 1980 and 1985, the 
Pacific walrus population at those times was estimated 
at 246,000 and 234,000 animals, respectively. A 
more recent population estimate based on a 1990 
survey found the population to number at least 
201,000 animals; however, that number is considered 
an underestimate due to survey sampling difficulties. 
As a result, it is not known how much the population 
size may have changed since the 1985 survey. 
Other walrus populations are distributed around the 
Arctic Ocean in a series of isolated groups. These are 
usually regarded as belonging to a single subspecies, 
the Atlantic walrus, O. r. rosmarus. Among other 
differences, the Atlantic walrus is slightly smaller than 
the Pacific walrus. The population groups are con- 
centrated off northwestern Canada and western Green- 
land, along the east coast of Greenland, around Sval- 
bard and Franz Josef Land in the Barents Sea, and off 
the northeastern and north-central coasts of Russia. 
Some scientists consider the group of walruses off 
north-central Russia in the Laptev Sea to be a third 
subspecies, O. r. laptevi. All these populations are 
very small compared to the Pacific walrus population. 
Together they represent only 10 to 20 percent of the 
total number of walruses worldwide. 
Historically all populations were exploited and 
reduced to very low numbers. In this regard, since 
the late 1700s the Pacific walrus went through at least 
three cycles of intense exploitation, population de- 
cline, and subsequent recovery. Today it is the only 
walrus population that has substantially recovered 
from the effects of over-hunting. 
Although nearly the entire life cycle of walruses is 
spent at sea, only 65 to 75 percent of the time is spent 
in the water. Animals frequently haul out on ice or 
land to rest, bear their young, and molt. Most Pacific 
walruses migrate north in the spring and south in 
autumn, moving with the seasonal advance and retreat 
of the pack ice. Some animals, however, remain 
year-round in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. Mating 
takes place mainly in winter, and calving occurs about 
15 months later in spring. 
Walruses feed on organisms that live on the sea 
floor. They use their snout and vibrissae to root for 
clams, their principal prey, as well as snails, amphi- 
pods, and worms. They also have been observed to 
eat seals, but this is considered unusual. 
Preparation of a Walrus Conservation Plan 
In 1988 Congress amended the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act to authorize the Secretaries of the 
Interior and Commerce to develop conservation plans 
for non-depleted marine mammals. Like recovery 
plans for endangered species, conservation plans are 
intended to help identify and coordinate research and 
