MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
The Marine Mammal Commission, in consultation 
with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed 
the draft statement, and by letter of 2 July 1992 
provided comments to the Service. In its letter the 
Commission noted that, while the conclusions present- 
ed in the draft statement may be correct, the statement 
did not provide data, analyses, or literature citations 
to support many of them. The draft statement con- 
cluded, for example, that production waters, drilling 
muds, drilling noises, etc., will not affect marine 
mammal food supplies, but it provided no information 
on the diet, feeding areas, or food requirements of the 
various marine mammals that occur in and near the 
proposed lease sale areas. 
The Commission noted that since the draft state- 
ment was written, unusually high numbers of bottle- 
nose dolphins had died and washed ashore along the 
Texas coast, and that the National Marine Fisheries 
Service was attempting to determine the cause and 
biological significance of the event. The Commission 
recommended that, if the Minerals Management 
Service had not already done so, it consult with the 
National Marine Fisheries Service to obtain the best 
available information concerning this unusual mortali- 
ty and the discreteness, status, seasonal movement 
patterns, food habits, and sources of non-natural 
mortality of bottlenose dolphins in the northern Gulf 
of Mexico. 
The Commission also noted that it may be prohibi- 
tively expensive, if not impossible, to obtain the 
information necessary to accurately predict the possi- 
ble impacts on every species that could be affected by 
activities related to the proposed lease sale. The 
Commission reiterated suggestions made with respect 
to previous lease sales that in some cases the intents 
and provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 
might be accomplished more cost-effectively by 
designing and carrying out post-lease monitoring 
programs rather than exhaustive pre-lease assessment 
programs. In this regard, the Commission noted that 
section 20 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 
as amended, requires that the Service conduct post- 
lease monitoring to detect and determine possible 
adverse effects, and that section 101(a)(5) of the 
Marine Mammal Protection Act provides that U.S. 
citizens engaged in offshore oil and gas activities can 
be exempted from the taking prohibitions of the Act 
168 
provided that certain conditions are met and that 
provisions have been made to monitor and report the 
taking. Among other things, the Commission recom- 
mended that the draft statement be expanded to 
indicate what will be done to meet the section 20 
monitoring requirements and to ensure that lessees are 
aware of pertinent provisions of the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act. 
Proposed OCS Lease Sale #153 
St. George Basin, Alaska 
On 1 April 1992 the Minerals Management Service 
issued a call for information and notice of intent to 
prepare an environmental impact statement on a 
proposed lease sale in the St. George Basin, Alaska. 
The sale, tentatively scheduled for December 1994, 
would involve lease of approximately 2,149 blocks 
(about 12 million acres) of submerged lands 15 to 130 
miles offshore of the Aleutian Islands. 
The Marine Mammal Commission, in consultation 
with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed 
the notice and call for information, and by letter of 12 
May provided comments to the Service. In its letter 
the Commission noted that 23 species of marine 
mammals are known to occur at least seasonally in the 
St. George Basin. These include eight species of 
endangered whales (right, bowhead, blue, fin, sei, 
humpback, gray, and sperm), the Steller sea lion 
(listed as threatened under the Endangered Species 
Act) and the northern fur seal (listed as depleted under 
the Marine Mammal Protection Act). In addition, the 
Commission noted that the number of harbor seals has 
declined substantially in much of the species’ Alaska 
range, and that if the decline continues, the Alaska 
population or populations of harbor seals could be 
listed as depleted, threatened, or endangered. 
The Commission recommended a number of 
actions to ensure protection of these species. For 
example, the Commission recommended that, if the 
Minerals Management Service had not already done 
so, it should contact the National Marine Fisheries 
Service and Alaska Department of Fish and Game to 
(1) obtain the best available information on Steller sea 
lion rookeries and feeding areas that might be affected 
by activities in the proposed sale area, and 
