MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



tal to oil and gas activities in the southern Beaufort 

 Sea and adjacent areas were promulgated by the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service in November 1993; in August 

 1995 they were modified and extended to apply 

 through 15 December 1998. On 17 November 1998 

 the Service published in the Federal Register a pro- 

 posed finding of negligible impact and regulations 

 proposed to govern the authorization and monitoring 

 of the incidental take of walruses and polar bears in 

 the course of oil and gas exploration and development 

 off the North Slope of Alaska during the next five 

 years. Although anticipated, final regulations were 

 not promulgated by 15 December 1998 when the 

 earlier regulations expired. They are expected to be 

 promulgated early in 1999. 



From November 1997 through October 1998 the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service issued 22 letters of authori- 

 zation to take polar bears and/or walruses incidental 

 to oil and gas exploration and development activities 

 in the southern Beaufort Sea. The authorizations were 

 issued to ARCO Alaska Inc., Northern Geophysical, 

 Western Geophysical, BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., 

 Exxon U.S.A., and Western Atlas International. 

 Notice of the authorizations were published in the 

 Federal Register on 6 and 9 January, 27 February, 16 

 April, 9 and 23 June, and 28 December 1998. 



The regulations proposed by the Service to govern 

 incidental taking of polar bears and walruses during 

 the next five years (16 December 1998 through 15 

 December 2003) specify permissible methods of 

 taking and requirements for monitoring to ensure that 

 taking occurs only as authorized. Background infor- 

 mation provided in the 17 November 1998 Federal 

 Register notice supports the proposed finding of 

 "negligible impact." 



Taking of Ringed Seals Incidental to On-ice 

 Seismic Activities — The National Marine Fisheries 

 Service issued regulations in 1982, 1987, and 1993 to 

 authorize the taking of small numbers of ringed seals 

 incidental to on-ice seismic activities associated with 

 oil and gas exploration activities in the Beaufort Sea. 

 On II July 1997 the Service received an application 

 from BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. on behalf of itself, 

 ARCO Alaska Inc., Northern Geophysical of America 

 Inc., and Western Geophysical Co. to extend the 

 regulations for five years. The Service published the 



application notice and a proposed rule in the 27 

 October 1997 Federal Register. 



As noted in its previous report, the Marine Mam- 

 mal Commission, in consultation with its Committee 

 of Scientific Advisors, reviewed the proposed rule and 

 forwarded comments to the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service on 1 December 1997. Although it concurred 

 with the conclusion that the seismic surveys likely 

 would have negligible impacts, the Commission 

 questioned whether measures proposed to detect and 

 avoid ringed seal lairs under the ice would minimize 

 the number of animals taken. The Commission 

 recommended that the Service promulgate regulations 

 as requested subject to the following requirements: 



(1) surveys sufficient to detect the locations of 

 ringed seals and ringed seal lairs that could be 

 affected by the seismic operations be conducted 

 before finalizing the tracklines and initiating 

 such operations; 



(2) the tracklines for these seismic operations reflect 

 the results of those surveys so as to avoid active 

 ringed seal lairs to the maximum extent practica- 

 ble, thereby minimizing the possible effects on 

 ringed seals; and 



(3) the monitoring programs required are sufficient 

 to provide accurate estimates of the number of 

 seals and lairs affected and the biological signifi- 

 cance of the effects. 



On 2 February 1998 the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service published notice of its final regulations in the 

 Federal Register. With regard to the Commission's 

 recommendations, the Federal Register noiict indicat- 

 ed that currently trained dogs provide the only reliable 

 means to locate ringed seal lairs and that participants 

 in a peer review workshop held in 1993 had conclud- 

 ed that "the use of dogs to locate ringed seal lairs and 

 breathing holes resulted in an increased harassment of 

 ringed seals and in a potential increase in interactions 

 between humans and polar bears (which apparently 

 are attracted by the dogs)." Thus, the Service did not 

 modify the regulations to require the conduct of 

 surveys sufficient to locate and orient tracklines to 

 avoid ringed seal lairs. The Service did modify the 

 regulations to require that the crews conducting on-ice 

 seismic surveys include either a marine mammal 



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