Chapter II — Species of Special Concern 



otters and their use in Alaska. The commission is 

 composed of representatives of Alaska Native com- 

 munities in areas where sea otters occur. 



In 1991 the Alaska Sea Otter Commission pro- 

 posed a formal memorandum of understanding be- 

 tween itself, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 

 Alaska Department of Fish and Game to specify their 

 respective responsibilities for conserving sea otters in 

 Alaska. Subsequently, the Marine Mammal Commis- 

 sion, in consultation with members of the Alaska Sea 

 Otter Commission, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and 

 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, developed 

 a draft sea otter conservation plan, which was provid- 

 ed to the Service on 5 May 1992. The Alaska Sea 

 Otter Commission also began work on regional sea 

 otter management plans to complement the statewide 

 plan. The conservation plan for the sea otter in 

 Alaska was completed by the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service in June 1994. 



A memorandum of agreement regarding coopera- 

 tive work on Alaska sea otters was signed on 1 

 February 1994 by representatives of the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game, and the Alaska Sea Otter Commission. The 

 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act included a new section (section 119) that autho- 

 rizes funding for the development of cooperative 

 agreements between the Secretaries of Commerce and 

 the Interior and Alaska Native organizations to con- 

 serve and provide for co-management of marine 

 mammals used by Alaska Natives for subsistence and 

 handicraft purposes. Under such agreements, the 

 Secretary may make grants to Native organizations 

 for, among other purposes, collecting and analyzing 

 data on marine mammal populations, monitoring the 

 taking of marine mammals for subsistence purposes, 

 participating in marine mammal research, and devel- 

 oping marine mammal co-management programs with 

 federal and state agencies. 



In 1997 the Fish and Wildlife Service and the 

 Alaska Sea Otter Commission signed a co-manage- 

 ment agreement on Alaska sea otters. Under the 

 agreement, the Service provided $70,000 annually to 

 the Alaska Sea Otter Commission in fiscal years 1997, 

 1998, and 1999 for co-management activities. Funds 

 have been earmarked to support a U.S. /Russia sea 



otter workshop; to assess work needed to determine 

 the range of sea otters in certain areas of Alaska based 

 on local knowledge of Natives; to continue the sea 

 otter harvest monitoring and sampling program; and 

 to develop local sea otter management plans and ordi- 

 nances. As noted above, co-management funds will 

 also be used to investigate interactions between killer 

 whales and sea otters. 



As part of the co-management effort, the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, the Alaska Sea Otter Commission, 

 and the U.S. Geological Survey have initiated a 

 program to collect biological samples from sea otters 

 harvested throughout Alaska by Native hunters for 

 subsistence and handicraft uses. The purpose of the 

 program is to assess and monitor the condition and 

 health of sea otters in Alaska, and to collect ecological 

 and life history information. A major goal of the 

 program is to train Alaska Natives in the collection of 

 biological samples from sea otters taken for subsis- 

 tence and handicraft purposes. 



By the end of 1998 more than 60 Alaska Natives 

 from more than 50 villages throughout the range of 

 the sea otter in Alaska had been trained and supplied 

 with equipment necessary to necropsy sea otters and 

 provide tissue samples to the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service. Through this program, samples have been 

 obtained from more than 236 sea otters taken during 

 the Native harvest and from 51 beachcast animals. 



Florida Manatee 

 {Trichechus manatus latirostris) 



The Florida manatee, a subspecies of the West 

 Indian manatee, is found only in the southeastern 

 United States and principally in Florida. A second 

 subspecies, the Antillean manatee {T. m. manatus), 

 occupies the remainder of the species' range, which 

 includes estuaries and rivers on islands in the Greater 

 Antilles, and along the coast of the Caribbean Sea and 

 South America from Mexico to northern Brazil. 



Like the Antillean manatee, Florida manatees are 

 herbivores that feed exclusively on aquatic and emer- 

 gent plants, such as sea grasses and marsh grasses. 

 Although they can grow to imposing lengths of 13 feet 



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