MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



2 July Interior, amendment of scientific research permit, James A. Powell, Florida Depart- 



ment of Environmental Protection. 



10 July Commerce, commenting to the National Marine Fisheries Service on a draft report 



concerning preliminary findings of a study contracted by Bay Ferries Limited to 

 assess the possible effects on whales of the high-speed ferry between Bar Harbor, 

 Maine, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; recommending that the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service consult with the Navy, the Coast Guard, Bay Ferries Limited, LGL 

 Limited, and representatives of the commercial shipping industry to design and 

 cooperatively fund a study or studies to determine sound levels likely to reach whales 

 at different distances and depths in front of various classes of commercial and 

 military vessels, and the responses to those sounds of representative species of 

 whales; recommending that the Service consult with the ferry operator, LGL Limited, 

 the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and other interested parties to 

 design, and carry out aerial survey and/or radio-tagging program in conjunction with 

 a ship-based observer program currently being conducted by LGL Limited; and 

 recommending that the Service, if it has not already done so, consult with Bay 

 Ferries Limited and the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans to determine 

 and agree on procedures for reporting and subsequently searching for any whales 

 possibly hit by the new ferry. 



15 July Transportation, requesting that the U.S. Coast Guard apply its Sea Partners Program 



to (1) engender public awareness and support for restrictions on discharging garbage, 

 including the prohibition on discharging any trash that includes plastic materials, into 

 the marine environment, (2) educate boaters in Florida about the importance of 

 complying with boat speed regulations established by the State of Florida and the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Florida manatees, and (3) increase awareness of 

 the highly endangered status of northern right whales along the U.S. east coast and 

 the recent regulations adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service restricting 

 approaches to these whales to closer than 500 yards. 



17 July Commerce, commenting to the National Marine Fisheries Service on the need for a 



precautionary approach to the management of lobster fishing at French Frigate 

 Shoals; repeating previous recommendations that the Service immediately prohibit 

 lobster fishing at French Frigate Shoals pending development of information suffi- 

 cient to assess the relative importance of lobsters in the diet of juvenile monk seals, 

 monk seal foraging patterns, and the impact of lobster fishing on the availability of 

 monk seal prey species; and repeating a request for information on the steps and 

 criteria to be used to determine the point at which any lobster fishing at French 

 Frigate Shoals adversely affects Hawaiian monk seals. 



29 July Commerce, scientific research permit, Donald B. Siniff. 



30 July Defense, requesting that the Navy provide information on (1) whether the Navy and 



others have routinely collected information on the characteristics and levels of 

 ambient ocean noise, (2) whether the information is unclassified and, if not, whether 

 it might be made available in some synthesized form, (3) whether the Navy believes 

 it would be possible and useful to analyze that information to document changes and 

 trends in ambient noise in representative ocean areas and marine mammal habitats, 



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