MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1998 



22 December 

 22 December 

 22 December 

 31 December 



disentangle right whales and develop fishing gear less likely to entangle whales, and 

 implementing a long term satellite tracking program to better identify right whale 

 distribution and movements; further recommending that the Service ask the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide $250,000 to cover start up costs 

 for the National Whale Conservation Fund and seek supplemental funding to carry 

 out certain urgent unbudgeted research tasks during 1999. 



Commerce, public display permit, Gabriel J. Kerschner, Wild Things, Inc. 



Commerce, amendment of scientific research permit, Deborah A. Glockner-Ferrari. 



Commerce, amendment of scientific research permit, James Darling. 



Commerce, commenting to the National Marine Fisheries Service on the status of the 

 Hawaiian monk seal; recommending that the Service (1) reinitiate Section 7 consulta- 

 tions on the possible effects of lobster fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 

 on Hawaiian monk seals, (2) close French Frigate Shoals to lobster fishing pending 

 availability of further information, (3) prohibit lobster fishing at reefs surrounding 

 Kure Atoll, Pearl and Hermes Reef, and Lisianski Island until such time as there is 

 better information on the importance of lobster and other species taken in the fishery 

 on the diet of Hawaiian monk seals, the status of those stocks at those atolls, and the 

 effect of lobster fishing on the abundance of those stocks, (4) provide funding to 

 expedite development of a comprehensive research program on fatty acid signatures 

 of prey in Hawaiian monk seal blubber, (5) process the backlog of scat samples 

 collected since 1994, (6) continue efforts to consult with other agencies to secure 

 assistance to remove remains and associated debris of the Paradise Queen II, (7) not 

 proceed with the translocation of weaned pups until uncertainties regarding the risk of 

 introducing morbillivirus or other significant disease agents has been thoroughly 

 reviewed by marine mammal veterinarians and epidemiologists, (8) redirect funding 

 for translocation work to a head-start program at French Frigate Shoals, and (9) 

 assess the effectiveness and feasibility of carrying out a program to inoculate Hawai- 

 ian monk seals with a vaccine against morbillivirus. 



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