MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



The Commission further noted that the proposed 

 Northstar Unit is to be constructed in an area where 

 there currently are 76 active leases for offshore oil 

 and gas activities. In the Commission's opinion, 

 available information is insufficient to be confident 

 that development of the Northstar Unit, by itself and 

 in combination with other ongoing and future activi- 

 ties in the southern Beaufort Sea, will not adversely 

 affect any marine mammal species or stock. There- 

 fore, it recommended that the final environmental 

 impact statement be expanded to describe the research 

 and short- and long-term monitoring activities that are 

 planned to ensure that oil production does not have 

 significant adverse impacts on any marine mammal 

 species or population or any unmitigable adverse 

 impact on the availability of marine mammals for 

 taking by Alaska Natives for subsistence uses. The 

 final environmental impact statement is expected to be 

 completed early in 1999. 



Gulf of Mexico 

 Information Transfer Meeting 



As noted in its previous annual report, the Marine 

 Mammal Commission, in consultation with its Com- 

 mittee of Scientific Advisors, on 8 October 1997 

 provided comments to the Minerals Management 

 Service on a draft environmental impact statement 

 concerning oil and gas lease sales to be held over the 

 next four years in the western Gulf of Mexico. The 

 Commission pointed out that the draft statement 

 provided a thorough and well-documented summary of 

 information on marine mammals in the western Gulf 

 and a well-documented assessment of the ways that 

 marine mammals in general could be affected by 

 seismic surveys, drilling, waste discharges, oil spills, 

 etc. However, the draft statement provided little 

 information on the distribution patterns or abundance 

 of the individual marine mammal species and popula- 

 tions that inhabit the northwestern Gulf or how they 

 likely would be affected. 



With regard to the last point, the Commission 

 noted that the Minerals Management Service and the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service had cooperatively 

 funded a research program, known as the GulfCet 

 Program, that was providing much new information 



concerning the distribution, abundance, habitat-use 

 patterns, and possible essential habitats of the marine 

 mammal species found most commonly in the north- 

 ern Gulf The Commission suggested expanding the 

 final environmental impact statement to indicate 

 specific areas where seismic surveys, drilling, helicop- 

 ter and vessel support activities, etc., might overlap 

 with important marine mammal feeding, breeding, 

 calving, nursing, or migratory areas. Further, the 

 Commission noted that, if available data are insuffi- 

 cient to determine how individual species and popula- 

 tions could be affected by the proposed action, the 

 final environmental impact statement should describe 

 the uncertainties and the research or monitoring 

 programs needed to resolve them. 



The final environmental impact statement was 

 published by the Minerals Management Service in 

 May 1998. It referenced and, in most cases, ad- 

 dressed the Commission's comments on the draft. 

 Among other things, it noted that the Minerals Man- 

 agement Service concurred with the Commission 

 regarding the need for post-sale monitoring and that 

 the Service planned to hold a workshop within the 

 next two years to identify the critical uncertainties and 

 how they might best be resolved. 



On 8-10 December 1998 the Minerals Management 

 Service held a meeting in New Orleans to review 

 information on oil and gas exploration and develop- 

 ment in the northern Gulf and its socioeconomic and 

 environmental impacts. The meeting was attended by 

 scientists who have conducted or are conducting 

 related research, representatives of the oil and gas 

 industry, and officials with the Minerals Management 

 Service and other involved federal and state agencies. 

 A representative of the Commission participated in the 

 meeting. 



The meeting included reviews of the GulfCet 

 Program and information on the effects of seismic 

 surveys and the removal of drilling rigs on marine 

 mammals and sea turtles in the northern Gulf 

 Information presented indicated the following: 



• the GulfCet Program field work has been complet- 

 ed and the final report is expected to be submitted 

 to the Minerals Management Service early in 1999; 



• the program has been very productive and is one 



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