Chapter II — Species of Special Concern 



Figure 6: A Steller sea lion rookery on Ugamak Island in the Aleutians illustrates the decline of the 

 population over a 17-year period. Photographs were taken in June of 1969, 1979, and 1986. 

 (Courtesy of National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Mammal Laboratory) 



action undertaken by a federal agency may adversely 

 affect a protected species, then the federal agency 

 must confer with the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service or the Fish and Wildlife Service, depending 

 on the species, to identify and determine ways to 

 resolve potential conflicts. Section 7(b) of the Endan- 

 gered Species Act requires that the consultation results 

 be published in a biological opinion detailing how the 

 action may affect the species in question. 



As mentioned earlier, abundance, availability, or 

 composition of prey species are thought to be factors 

 possibly contributing to the Steller sea lion decline 

 west of Cape Suckling. Large commercial fisheries 

 for groundfish are found in this area. Concerns that 

 the fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering 

 Sea/Aleutian Islands region may have an adverse 

 effect on Steller sea lions have resulted in a number of 

 section 7 consultations between the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service's Sustainable Fisheries Division and 

 its Office of Protected Resources. 



The first consultation took place in 1991. On 18 

 April 1991 the Service issued a biological opinion on 



the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands fishery management 

 plan and a second opinion on the fishery management 

 plan for Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries, conclud- 

 ing that the fisheries were not likely to jeopardize the 

 continued existence and recovery of the Steller sea 

 lion. 



In 1995 the Service reinitiated formal section 7 

 consultations on the possible effects on sea lions of the 

 proposed Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of 

 Alaska groundfish fishery management plans, and the 

 proposed 1996 total allowable catch specifications. 

 Consultations were reinitiated because of new infor 

 mation on the fisheries and the continued Steller sea 

 lion decline. On 26 January 1996 the Service issued 

 two new biological opinions, both of which concluded 

 that the fisheries and the proposed 1996 catch quotas 

 were not likely to jeopardize the continued existence 

 of Steller sea lions or result in the destruction or 

 adverse modification of their critical habitat. 



On 26 February 1998 the Service determined that 

 the 1996 biological opinion on the effects of the 

 Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands groundfish fishery on 



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