MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



1999 absent information indicating that chase and 

 encirclement adversely affect dolphins). 



In the Commission's view, the 1997 amendments 

 are premised on the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 developing a sufficient information base to enable it to 

 make the required findings by carrying out the full 

 research program on schedule. The Commission 

 therefore recommended that a senior official within 

 the Department of Commerce contact officials in 

 Mexico and other nations whose vessels purse seine 

 for tuna in the eastern tropical Pacific to inform them 

 that failure to cooperate with U.S. researchers and 

 technicians in a timely manner will be viewed as a 

 sign of bad faith and may result in the Secretary 

 declining to make a finding under the Dolphin Protec- 

 tion Consumer Information Act or deferring the 

 effective date of any change in the definition of 

 dolphin-safe nana. 



The 17 September letter also reiterated the need for 

 the Service to clarify whether coastal spotted dolphins 

 would be factored into the findings on the effects of 

 chase and encirclement on depleted stocks. The 

 Commission explained that the Service will be vulner- 

 able to challenge unless it either articulates sufficient 

 justification for determining that the coastal spotted 

 dolphin is not depleted or collects adequate informa- 

 tion for determining whether chase and encirclement 

 are having a significant adverse effect on this stock. 

 The Commission therefore again asked the Service 

 provide its views on the current status of this stock. 



The Commission also provided additional com- 

 ments on the review of stress-related literature being 

 prepared by the Service. Noting that the Service 

 seemed to believe that the literature review would be 

 useful primarily for planning the experiment involving 

 the repeated chase and capture of dolphins, the 

 Commission indicated that, by comparing how other 

 taxa respond to similar stimuli, the review could also 

 be used to infer possible stress-related impacts of 

 chase and encirclement on dolphins. The Commission 

 therefore recommended that the Service give further 

 consideration to the possible ways in which the results 

 of the literature review might be used in making the 

 initial finding. The Commission also commented that 

 more relevant studies probably have been done to 

 investigate the effects of physiological and psychologi- 



cal stress in humans than in other animals and again 

 recommended that the review include all potentially 

 relevant literature on stress in humans. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service convened a 

 meeting on 16-17 December 1998 in La Jolla, Cali- 

 fornia, to review its progress in planning and conduct- 

 ing the research required under the International 

 Dolphin Conservation Program Act and to seek views 

 concerning the decision-making rules and criteria that 

 would be used to make the initial finding on the 

 effects of chase and encirclement in March 1999. 

 Representatives of the Commission attended the 

 meeting. Although the Service had hoped to satisfy, 

 in part, the consultative requirements of the Act 

 through the Commission's attendance, the representa- 

 tives explained at the outset of the meeting that, 

 because the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires 

 the Commission to consult with its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors in formulating its recommenda- 

 tions, this was not possible. 



The Service's scientists provided the meeting 

 participants with an overview of each element of its 

 dolphin research program. They noted that the first 

 abundance survey had just been completed and that 

 preliminary results would be available in mid-January 

 1999. They also noted that the Service, at least 

 preliminarily, had decided to treat the coastal spotted 

 dolphin as a depleted stock for purposes of making the 

 initial finding. They noted, however, that this may 

 present problems because the surveys conducted in the 

 late 1980s and early 1990s had not provided abun- 

 dance estimates for this stock. Thus, there was no 

 baseline against which to compare the 1998 estimate. 



The Commission representatives suggested that it 

 might be possible to avoid this problem by looking 

 qualitatively at the information regarding the frequen- 

 cy with which coastal stocks are chased and encircled. 

 It may be that sets on these stocks are so infrequent 

 that the Service might be able to conclude that, even 

 if those dolphins that are chased and encircled are 

 adversely affected, these effects are unlikely to be 

 significant at the population level. 



The Service noted that the review of stress-related 

 literature was nearly complete and would be provided 

 shortly to the Commission and others for review. As 



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