Chapter IX — OCS Development 
recommended that if the National Marine Fisheries 
Service had not already done so, it should (1) assess 
whether the activity-specific monitoring program 
required by the proposed rule is likely to provide an 
accurate estimate of the number of ringed seals 
affected by the authorized activities and the nature and 
significance of the effects, and (2) identify and take 
into account activities, in addition to Native subsis- 
tence hunting and the planned seismic surveys and 
related support activities, that may affect ringed seals 
and their habitat in areas offshore Alaska. 
On 30 December 1992 the Fish and Wildlife 
Service published in the Federal Register a proposed 
tule to authorize, for a period of five years, the 
incidental, unintentional take of small numbers of 
polar bears and walruses during oil and gas operations 
in the Beaufort Sea. In its notice, the Service asked 
for comments on the proposed action and announced 
a series of public meetings to be held on the proposal 
tule at four locations in Alaska. Early in 1993 the 
Marine Mammal Commission, in consultation with its 
Committee of Scientific Advisors, will review the 
Service’s proposed action and provide comments to 
the Service as appropriate. 
The Minerals Management Service’s 
Environmental Studies Program 
As noted above, the Minerals Management Service 
is responsible for assessing and avoiding or mitigating 
the possible adverse environmental effects of offshore 
oil and gas exploration and development. To help 
meet this responsibility, the Service has established an 
Environmental Studies Program administered region- 
ally by its Outer Continental Shelf offices in New 
Orleans, Louisiana; Camarillo, California; Anchorage, 
Alaska; and Herndon, Virginia. 
To help the Service meet its responsibilities with 
regard to the conservation and protection of marine 
mammals, the Commission, in consultation with its 
Committee of Scientific Advisors, (1) reviews and 
provides comments on regional studies plans, environ- 
mental impact statements, and requests for proposals 
related to marine mammal research developed by the 
Service; (2) participates as requested in meetings of 
173 
Technical Proposal Evaluation Committees convened 
by the Service to review research proposals; and 
(3) helps plan and participates in meetings and work- 
shops to review and coordinate relevant research 
programs being conducted or planned by the Minerals 
Management Service, the National Marine Fisheries 
Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other 
Federal, state, and private agencies and organizations. 
Workshop on Tagging and 
Tracking Technology 
Radio, sonic, and satellite-linked tags have been 
used with varying degrees of success to study marine 
mammals since the 1960s. One of the major difficul- 
ties, particularly as regards tagging large whales, has 
been in designing reliable attachment systems that do 
not harm the animals being tagged. As has been 
described in previous annual reports, in 1987 the 
Marine Mammal Commission, with funding from the 
Minerals Management Service, organized and con- 
vened a workshop to assess possible systems for 
tracking large whales (see Appendix B, Montgomery 
1987). Because of the rapid changes in tagging 
technology, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 
Minerals Management Service, and the Office of 
Naval Research sponsored a follow-up workshop in 
1992 to assess the present state of tagging and track- 
ing technology. At the request of the sponsoring 
agencies, the Marine Mammal Commission assisted in 
planning the workshop. 
The Workshop on Tagging and Tracking Technolo- 
gy was held 11-13 February 1992 in Warrenton, 
Virginia. Participants included researchers from the 
United States, Great Britain, Canada, Norway, and 
Japan. Also participating were representatives of 
engineering and consulting firms involved in develop- 
ing radio tags, as well as representatives of the 
sponsoring organizations, the Fish and Wildlife 
Service, and the British Sea Mammal Research Unit. 
The objectives of the workshop were to (1) deter- 
mine the state of the art with respect to instrumenta- 
tion and sensors, attachment techniques, and data 
acquisition; (2) identify the problems and deficiencies 
in existing technology; (3) identify what must be done 
to overcome the problems; and (4) describe user 
