Glacier Bay National Park — A portion of the 
central North Pacific stock of humpback whales feeds 
in Glacier Bay in Southeast Alaska. The bay lies 
within Glacier Bay National Park administered by the 
National Park Service. As noted in previous annual 
reports, late in the 1970s the number of whales in the 
bay declined and it was believed that increased tour 
boat and other vessel traffic may have caused or 
contributed to the decline. In response, the Park 
Service, in consultation with the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, established a system for regulating 
vessel entries and vessel traffic patterns in the Bay. 
In 1990 the Park Service authorized two cruise 
ship entries in excess of the entry ceiling established 
under its regulations. In response, the Alaska Wild- 
life Alliance filed a suite challenging the Service’s 
action. The status of this litigation is discussed in 
Chapter VIII. 
North Atlantic Humpback Whales 
In the western North Atlantic Ocean, most hump- 
back whales winter in waters off the Greater Antilles 
and Leeward Islands on the northeast edge of the 
Caribbean Sea. Among the locations with the greatest 
concentrations of whales during winter are Silver and 
Navidad Banks north of the Dominican Republic, 
Samana Bay on the north coast of the Dominican 
Republic, and Mona Passage between the Dominican 
Republic and Puerto Rico. In the eastern North 
Atlantic Ocean, some whales winter off northwest 
Africa and the Cape Verde Islands. 
By summer, most whales have migrated to north- 
ern feeding grounds. The principal known feeding 
areas are the Gulf of Maine (including Stellwagen 
Bank off Massachusetts), the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
along the Atlantic coasts of Newfoundland and Labra- 
dor, off southwest Greenland, around Iceland, and off 
Norway. The Marine Mammal Commission has sup- 
ported several studies to improve information on 
humpback whales in the western North Atlantic Ocean 
(see, for example, Appendix B, Mayo 1982, White- 
head et al. 1982, and Katona 1983). 
Project YONAH — To improve understanding of 
humpback whales in the North Atlantic, scientists 
from seven countries have developed a three-year 
61 
Chapter III — Species of Special Concern 
cooperative research project called project YONAH 
(Years of the North Atlantic Humpback-Whale). The 
objectives of this research project are to assess the 
species’ distribution, abundance, behavior, movement 
between feeding areas, and stock discreteness in the 
North Atlantic basin. To examine these points, the 
project includes a series of intensive sub-projects to 
photograph and collect tissue samples from individual 
whales at each of the major summer feeding grounds 
and the principal winter habitat in the West Indies. 
The first two years of the project emphasize field 
research and the final year is devoted principally to 
data analysis and manuscript preparation. Participants 
include scientists from Canada, Denmark, the Domini- 
can Republic, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, 
and the United States. As noted in its previous annual 
report, the Commission provided partial support for 
the first year of field work in 1992. 
The first year of work exceeded expectations. A 
total of more than 2,000 good-quality fluke photo- 
graphs and 1,100 biopsy samples were collected from 
all major winter and summer habitats. These included 
more than 1,000 photographs and 750 biopsy samples 
from the West Indies, 50 photographs and 20 biopsies 
from waters off Norway, and 100 photographs and 50 
biopsies from Iceland. Also during 1992, information 
was gathered suggesting a possible new summer 
feeding ground off Baffin Island in northeast Canada. 
In 1993, project scientists plan to repeat the 1992 field 
program and to survey waters off Baffin Island. 
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary — 
Stellwagen Bank, a submerged sand bank roughly 20 
nautical miles in length north of Cape Cod, Massachu- 
Setts, is a feeding area used regularly by a significant 
portion of the western North Atlantic humpback whale 
population. It is also important habitat for many other 
marine species and for several years has been consid- 
ered for possible designation as a national marine 
sanctuary. 
On 8 February 1991, the Sanctuaries and Reserves 
Division published a Federal Register notice propos- 
ing rules to designate the bank as a marine sanctuary 
under Title III of the Marine Protection, Research, 
and Sanctuaries Act and announcing the availability of 
a draft management plan and environmental impact 
