Chapter III — Species of Special Concern 
conducted a comprehensive assessment of the status of 
the two gray whale populations at a special meeting 
on 23-27 April 1990. The meeting participants 
concluded that the western North Pacific population 
remains severely depleted. They recommended that 
research be undertaken cooperatively by the Soviet 
Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the People’s 
Democratic Republic of Korea, and the People’s 
Republic of China to better determine the distribution, 
abundance, and possible increase of the western North 
Pacific population. 
The participants concluded that the best estimate of 
the eastern North Pacific population was a 1987/1988 
estimate of 21,113 (standard error = 688) whales. 
They also concluded that, between 1968 and 1988, the 
population had increased at an average annual rate of 
3.2 percent, despite an average annual Soviet subsis- 
tence catch of about 174 whales per year during this 
period. 
In 1992 the International Whaling Commission’s 
Scientific Committee reexamined factors that had been 
used to correct census data. It derived a revised 
estimate of 23,859 individuals (with a 95 percent 
confidence interval of 21,500 - 26,500) for the eastern 
Pacific population. 
Endangered Species Status Review 
Section 4(c)(2) of the Endangered Species Act 
requires that a status review of listed species be 
conducted at least once every five years to determine 
whether any species should be removed from the list 
or reclassified. The National Marine Fisheries 
Service conducted status reviews of endangered 
whales, including gray whales, in 1984 and 1990. 
The Service’s 1984 review concluded that increasing 
industrial development and vessel traffic in the calving 
lagoons and in other vital habitats along migration 
routes and on feeding grounds may be a potential 
threat to the population. After taking into account the 
continuing growth of the population, the Service 
concluded that, although the population was no longer 
endangered, threats to feeding and breeding areas and 
migratory corridors warranted its reclassification from 
endangered to threatened. The Service also concluded 
that the western North Pacific stock had not recovered 
and should remain listed as endangered. The Service, 
63 
however, took no action to effect a change in the 
species listing status following its 1984 review. 
In its 1990 status review, the National Marine 
Fisheries Service concluded that the California stock 
had recovered to near its original population size and 
was neither in danger of extinction throughout all or 
a significant portion of its range, nor likely to again 
become endangered within the foreseeable future. 
Proposal to Remove the Eastern North Pacific 
Population from the Endangered Species List 
In light of the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 
1990 status review, the Northwest Indian Fisheries 
Commission petitioned the Service on 1 March 1991 
to remove the eastern North Pacific population of gray 
whales from the List of Endangered and Threatened 
Wildlife. The petitioner argued that the population’s 
recovery to 21,113 animals and its continuing increase 
merited removing the population from the list and 
claimed that leaving the population on the list subject- 
ed users of living marine resources to unwarranted 
restrictions and penalties and jeopardized the credibili- 
ty of the Endangered Species Act. 
On 15 July 1991, the Service sent the Marine 
Mammal Commission a draft Federal Register notice 
proposing to remove the eastern North Pacific gray 
whale population from the List of Endangered and 
Threatened Wildlife, while retaining the western 
North Pacific population on the list as endangered. 
The draft notice indicated that the eastern population 
was equal to or greater than its estimated historical 
size, and the population has been increasing at a rate 
of 3.2 percent per year since the early 1960s. 
By letter of 21 August 1991, the Commission 
advised the National Marine Fisheries Service that it 
agreed that the eastern North Pacific gray whale 
population had recovered to near its estimated historic 
size. The Commission noted, however, that the 
population occupies coastal waters of four nations — 
Russia, Canada, the United States, and Mexico — and 
ongoing and foreseeable human development in all 
four countries must be considered to accurately assess 
possible threats to the population and habitats critical 
to its survival. The Commission recommended that 
