MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



be withdrawn from consideration as a potential target 

 missile launching site, and that the Navy not consider 

 any land-based sites located in the Northwestern 

 Hawaiian Islands. Rather, it urged that emphasis be 

 directed toward mobile sea-based launch sites or, 

 preferably, air-drop target missile launches. On 21 

 December 1998 the Commission received a letter 

 from the Navy indicating that Tern Island and John- 

 ston Atoll were being withdrawn from consideration. 



On 2 September 1998 the Commission received 

 from the Department of Defense, Ballistic Missile 

 Defense Organization, a finding of no significant 

 impact and an associated final programmatic envi- 

 ronmental assessment for an air-dropped, short-range 

 target missile to help develop and test ballistic missile 

 defense capabilities. The air-launch target system 

 would involve the release of target missiles from a C- 

 130 aircraft and would not require land-based launch 

 pads. In its comment letter of 18 September 1998 the 

 Commission commended the Department of Defense 

 for exploring target missile systems that did not 

 require land-based launch platforms. It noted that it 

 seemed reasonable to conclude that deployment of air- 

 drop target missiles over the open ocean could be 

 undertaken so as to have no significant impact on 

 marine mammals or their habitat. To help ensure 

 this, the Commission recommended that, if it had not 

 already done so, the Department of Defense initiate 

 consultations with the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service pursuant to section 7 of the Endangered 

 Species Act to identify such measures as may be 

 needed to avoid significant adverse impacts on marine 

 mammals and their habitats. 



During 1999 the Commission expects to continue 

 following this issue closely. 



Tern Island 



Tern Island, one of several small islets at French 

 Frigate Shoals, is an important haul-out site for 

 Hawaiian monk seals as well as for endangered sea 

 turtles, and is a rookery for a variety of birds. 

 During World War II, the Navy enlarged the island 

 from its original 4.5 hectares (11 acres) to about 16.2 

 hectares (40 acres) to accommodate a landing strip. 

 To do so, the Navy constructed a sheet metal bulk- 

 head around most of the island and backfilled behind 



the structure with dredged spoil and coral rubble from 

 the surrounding lagoon. The Coast Guard took over 

 the island from 1952 to 1979 to operate a LORAN 

 station. Since then, it has been used by the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service as a field station for its Hawaiian 

 Islands National Wildlife Reftige. 



The airstrip and small buildings on Tern Island 

 have made it possible to occupy the site year-round 

 since the late 1970s. As the only site with such 

 facilities between the main Hawaiian Islands and 

 Midway Atoll, a distance of about 2,200 km (1,370 

 miles), it is a strategically important base for provid- 

 ing a regional enforcement presence, a rapid response 

 and evacuation capability in case of maritime emer- 

 gencies, and a means of facilitating research and 

 management work, including year-round studies of 

 resident monk seals. 



The continued existence of the runway and field 

 station — in fact, the integrity of the entire island — 

 is in doubt because the sheet metal bulkhead, now 

 more than 50 years old, is badly deteriorated. If the 

 bulkhead fails, the airstrip would be lost, the field 

 station would have to be abandoned, most of the 

 island would erode away, buried debris would be 

 exposed and create entanglement hazards to wildlife, 

 and erosion pockets behind the rusted-out seawall 

 would become serious entrapment hazards for monk 

 seals and other wildlife. Removal of such hazardous 

 structures and debris would be costly. 



As noted in past annual reports, the Commission 

 has recommended that the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 and other agencies take steps to replace the bulkhead 

 as quickly as possible. The Service shared the Com- 

 mission's concerns, and in 1993 it contracted with the 

 Army Corps of Engineers to develop detailed con- 

 struction plans for a rock revetment to replace the 

 decaying bulkhead. Although designs were completed 

 in 1995, the Service was unable to obtain funding to 

 construct the new seawall until late in 1998. 



The shoreline near the island's buildings continued 

 to erode, and by mid- 1997 they were in imminent 

 danger of being undermined by storms. Therefore, 

 late in 1997 the Service contracted with the Army 

 Corps of Engineers for emergency repairs along the 

 short stretch of shoreline fronting Tern Island's 



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