Chapter II 



SPECIES OF SPECIAL CONCERN 



Section 202 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 directs the Marine Mammal Commission, in consulta- 

 tion with its Committee of Scientific Advisors on 

 Marine Mammals, to make recommendations to the 

 Department of Commerce, the Department of the 

 Interior, and other agencies on actions needed to 

 conserve marine mammals. 



To meet this charge, the Commission devotes 

 special attention to individual species and populations 

 that are particularly vulnerable to various human 

 impacts. Such species may include marine mammals 

 listed as endangered or threatened under the Endan- 

 gered Species Act or depleted under the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act (Table 1), as well as other 

 species or populations facing special conservation 

 challenges. 



During 1998 special attention was directed to a 

 number of endangered, threatened, or depleted species 

 or populations. As discussed below, these include 

 northern right whales, bowhead whales, Hawaiian 

 monk seals, Steller sea lions, northern fur seals, 

 southern sea otters, and West Indian manatees. Other 

 species not so listed, but that received special attention 

 include eastern North Pacific gray whales. Gulf of 

 Maine harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, beluga 

 whales. Pacific walruses, polar bears, and sea otters 

 in Alaska. 



Northern Right Whale 

 {Eubalaena glacialis) 



The northern right whale is the world's most 

 endangered large whale. Its largest known popula- 

 tion, about 300 animals, occurs in the western North 

 Atlantic Ocean along the east coasts of the United 

 States and Canada. A second population of unknown 



size occurs in the western North Pacific Ocean in the 

 Okhotsk Sea. Right whale sightings from that area 

 are too infrequent to develop a reliable abundance 

 estimate, but the Okhotsk Sea population could 

 number in the low hundreds of animals. Although 

 northern right whale populations also occurred histori- 

 cally in the eastern North Atlantic and eastern North 

 Pacific Oceans, recent sightings are so rare that it is 

 doubtful that viable populations remain in those areas. 



All northern right whale populations were severely 

 depleted by commercial whaling and were commer- 

 cially extinct by the end of the nineteenth century. 

 Nevertheless, as whalers seeking other more abundant 

 species chanced upon right whales, they were taken 

 and by the 1930s surviving populations were reduced 

 to the brink of biological extinction. Action to protect 

 the species was first taken in 1935 when a ban on 

 hunting right whales was adopted by international 

 treaty. Despite the ban (since carried forward by the 

 International Whaling Commission under the 1946 

 International Convention for the Regulation of Whal- 

 ing), northern right whales continued to be killed. 

 Some were hunted by whalers whose national govern- 

 ments were slow to sign the treaty; others were taken 

 under provisions authorizing scientific research; and 

 still others were killed by illegal whaling until at least 

 the mid-1960s. Gradually, however, compliance with 

 the ban improved, and currently whaling is not 

 considered a direct threat to the species. However, 

 the remaining populations now are so small that other 

 human-related impacts, particularly collisions with 

 ships and entanglement in fishing gear, threaten their 

 recovery. 



The western North Atlantic population is the only 

 northern right whale population for which there is 

 sufficient information on distribution, demography, 

 and human interactions to develop protective mea- 



