MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1998 



Prey Availability and Commercial Fisheries 



The number of monk seals at French Frigate 

 Shoals, the species' largest colony, declined signifi- 

 cantly from 1989 to the mid-1990s. As mentioned 

 earlier, the poor juvenile survival at this site may be 

 a result of limited prey availability. Monk seals feed 

 on reef fish, octopuses, crabs, and lobsters, all of 

 which are taken in the Northwestern Hawaiian 

 Islands' lobster fishery. 



The small sizes of banks in the Northwestern 

 Hawaiian Islands and their isolated locations away 

 from other recruitment sources for marine life make 

 them vulnerable to impacts from overfishing. Thus, 

 the Commission has been concerned that, if lobster 

 fishing were to occur around French Frigate Shoals, 

 it could adversely affect stocks of lobsters and other 

 potentially important prey species for monk seals. As 

 noted in its past annual reports, the Commission has 

 repeatedly recommended that the Service close French 

 Frigate Shoals to lobster fishing until better informa- 

 tion becomes available on the importance of lobsters 

 in the diet of monk seals and the effects of lobster 

 fishing on important monk seal prey resources. The 

 Commission also has recommended that the Service 

 expedite research to determine the relative importance 

 of lobsters and other species in the diet of monk seals, 

 but funding to do so has not been provided. 



By letter of 23 December 1997 to the Service, the 

 Commission repeated its earlier recommendations that 

 the Service increase funding for prey studies and close 

 French Frigate Shoals to lobster fishing. The letter 

 also repeated earlier requests not met by the Service 

 for information on the criteria the Service would use 

 to determine if lobster fishing were either causing or 

 contributing to the monk seal population decline. 



On 1 April 1998 the Service wrote to the Com- 

 mission, advising that it did not plan to close French 

 Frigate Shoals to lobster fishing because, based on 

 previous experience, it was expected that little if any 

 fishing effort would be expended in the area. In 

 addition, the Service stated that it was implementing 

 a vessel-tracking system that would ensure the effec- 

 tive monitoring of fishing vessels anywhere in the 

 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. 



The Service's response failed to address Commis- 

 sion concerns about the impact that lobster fishing at 

 French Frigate Shoals could have on the availability 

 of monk seal prey. Once again, it also failed to 

 provide the requested description of criteria the 

 Service would use to determine the point at which 

 lobster fishing might adversely affect Hawaiian monk 

 seals. Therefore, the Commission wrote to the 

 Service on 17 July 1998 again recommending that 

 French Frigate Shoals be closed to lobster fishing and 

 that, if the Service again declined to do so, it provide 

 the Commission with a detailed description of the 

 criteria it would use to determine the point at which 

 lobster fishing at French Frigate Shoals might have an 

 adverse effect on Hawaiian monk seal survival. It 

 also asked the Service to provide information on the 

 procedures to be taken to ensure that lobster fishing at 

 French Frigate Shoals did not exceed the level of 

 lobster removal that could adversely affect monk seal 

 survival. The Service subsequently wrote to the 

 Commission on 24 August 1998 noting that it would 

 require additional time to address the points in the 

 Commission's letter. At the end of 1998, the Commis- 

 sion had not received a further reply. 



At the Marine Mammal Commission's 1998 annual 

 meeting in Portland, Maine, on 10-12 November and 

 at the 1-3 December 1998 meeting of the Hawaiian 

 Monk Seal Recovery Team, new information was 

 provided indicating that management measures imple- 

 mented by the Service in 1998 had resulted in a 

 redistribution of lobster fishing effort in the North- 

 western Hawaiian Islands. The total quota of 186,000 

 lobsters was divided into four areas: Necker Island, 

 Gardner Pinnacles, Maro Reef, and the remainder of 

 the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. As a result of 

 these management measures, lobster fishing effort 

 shifted to the western end of the monk seal's popula- 

 tion range, including atolls directly supporting major 

 monk seal breeding colonies. 



As noted in the Commission's past letters, lobsters 

 and octopuses are known components of monk seal 

 diets, but their relative importance is uncertain. The 

 Service has discounted the possibility that octopus 

 bycatch in lobster traps may affect monk seal prey 

 availability because they currently constitute a very 

 small component of the lobster fishery bycatch. 

 Although this now may be true, past bycatch may 



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