MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



and offshore development on marine mammals; 

 response to marine mammal strandings and unusual 

 mortality events; public display of marine mammals; 

 applications for scientific research permits; and 

 requests for authorization to take small numbers of 

 marine mammals incidental to a variety of industrial, 

 military, and scientific activities. 



Members of the Commission, its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors, and staff also were involved in 

 organizing or participated in meetings to: 



• review and recommend actions to update or imple- 

 ment recovery plans for Hawaiian monk seals, 

 Florida manatees, Steller sea lions, right whales, 

 humpback whales, and the California population of 

 sea otters; 



• review and further develop take reduction plans for 

 the east coast gillnet fishery and other fisheries that 

 incidentally catch harbor porpoises, right whales, 

 and other large and small cetaceans; 



• prepare for and participate in the 1998 meetings of 

 the International Whaling Commission, the Antarc- 

 tic Treaty Consultative Parties, and the Commis- 

 sion and Scientific Committee for the Conservation 

 of Antarctic Marine Living Resources; 



• determine steps that the United States should take 

 to improve operations of the Arctic Council and 

 help implement the Arctic Environmental Protec- 

 tion Strategy; 



• identify and coordinate federal agency efforts to 

 resolve uncertainties concerning the possible effects 

 of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals; 



• review the results of research funded by the Miner- 

 als Management Service on marine mammals that 

 could be affected by oil and gas exploration and 

 development in the northern Gulf of Mexico; 



• identify uncertainties concerning the effects of 

 chemical contaminants on marine mammals and 

 actions necessary to resolve them; 



• review research plans to determine whether dolphin 

 populations depleted by the tuna purse seine fishery 

 in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are recovering 

 and, if not, whether chase and capture by tuna 

 purse seiners is a factor; 



• prepare for and participate in the 1998 World 

 Marine Mammal Science Conference; and 



• develop a U.S. -Russia polar bear conservation 

 agreement for the Chukotka-Alaska region. 



Commission-Sponsored Research 

 and Study Projects 



As noted above, the Marine Mammal Commission 

 supports research to further the purposes and policies 

 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In particular, 

 it convenes workshops and contracts for studies to 

 help identify and determine how best to minimize 

 threats to marine mammals and their habitats. Since 

 it was established in 1972, the Commission has 

 contracted for more than 1,085 projects ranging in 

 amounts from several hundred dollars to $150,000. 



Occasionally Commission investments in research 

 involve the transfer of funds to and from other federal 

 agencies, particularly the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 

 Department of State. When funds are transferred 

 from the Commission to another agency, the Commis- 

 sion provides detailed scopes of work describing 

 precisely what must be done, including requirements 

 for reporting progress to the Commission. In many 

 instances, this has made it possible for agencies to 

 start needed research sooner than might otherwise 

 have been possible or to undertake projects they might 

 not otherwise have been able to support. 



Research and studies supported by the Commission 

 in 1998 are described below. Final reports of most 

 Commission-sponsored studies are available from the 

 National Technical Information Service (NTIS) or 

 from the Commission. These are listed in Appendix 

 B. Papers and reports resulting entirely or in part 

 from Commission-sponsored activities and that have 

 been published elsewhere are listed in Appendix C. 



WORKSHOPS, REVIEWS, AND ANALYSES 



Analysis of Population Trends of Florida Manatees 

 Using Warm-Water Discharges as Winter Refuges 

 (Bruce A. Craig, Ph.D., Purdue University, West 

 Lafayette, Indiana) 



Over the years, manatees have learned to rely on 

 areas of warm water created by the discharge of 

 heated water from electrical power plants located 

 along the Florida coast north of their historic winter 



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