not reduce by catch below the potential biological removal level in the coming year. The Service 

 planned to announce a decision on the proposal early in 1999. 



Hawaiian Monk Seals — Hawaiian monk seals are the most endangered seals in U.S. 

 waters. Limited almost exclusively to the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, they number 

 about 1,300 to 1,400 animals. The species' abundance declined by about 50 percent between 

 the late 1950s and the late 1970s, and after a brief period of stability, it began declining again 

 in the late 1980s. The largest breeding colony, located on French Frigate Shoals, had declined 

 to about half its size in the late 1980s for reasons that are probably related to limited prey 

 availability, and it has shown no signs of recovery. Threats to the species include entanglement 

 in derelict fishing nets, human disturbance on pupping and haul-out beaches, and depletion of 

 prey resources by commercial fisheries. 



In 1998 the Commission commented on a U.S. Navy proposal for a missile defense 

 testing program that included consideration of locating missile launching facilities on Tern 

 Island, a small island at French Frigate Shoals. Because of likely impacts to monk seals, the 

 Commission recommended that the site be removed from consideration as a possible launch site, 

 and the Navy subsequently stated that it planned to remove the site from future consideration. 

 The Commission commended the Navy for its decision and for its efforts to develop an 

 alternative that would not require launch facilities in such an important wildlife habitat. 



Lobsters and other species caught in the commercial lobster fishery in the Northwestern 

 Hawaiian Islands are components of the monk seal diet. Their relative importance, however, 

 is uncertain. Because of this uncertainty and the decline in monk seal numbers at French Frigate 

 Shoals apparently due to limited prey availability, the Commission has recommended several 

 times in past years that the National Marine Fisheries Service prohibit lobster fishing around 

 French Frigate Shoals until better information on monk seal prey preferences is available. The 

 Service has declined to do so citing, uncertainty about the importance of lobster in monk seal 

 diets. In 1998 the Service altered management provisions for the lobster fishery with the result 

 that fishing effort shifted to French Frigate Shoals and other atolls directly supporting major 

 monk seal colonies. The Commission again recommended that the Service close French Frigate 

 Shoals to lobster fishing and that other atolls directly supporting major monk seal breeding 

 colonies also be closed pending better information on monk seal prey preferences. As of the end 

 of 1998, the Service had not replied. 



Florida Manatees — The Florida manatee, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee 

 found only in the southeastern United States, is one of the most endangered marine mammals 

 in the United States. Although the current population, numbering about 2,800 animals, is 

 thought to be larger than it was in the mid-1970s, it suffered in 1998 the third highest aimual 

 mortality, 243 carcasses recovered, since the mid-1970s when records were first kept. About 

 one-third of the deaths were due to human causes, principally collisions with boats. In 1998 a 

 record 67 vessel-related deaths were reported. 



Vlll 



