41 



lion counts declined from 105,289 in 1959 to 20,000 in 1991. The 

 decline in Alaska is believed to be due to a combination of 

 incidental kills in fisheries, illegal shooting, changes in the 

 numbers and/or quality of prey, and possibly other unidentified 

 factors. The Steller sea lion population off Washington and 

 Oregon is low but has stabilized at approximately 3,000 animals. 

 In California, however, they have slowly declined since the 

 1950's to about 2,000 animals. 



Harbor porpoise along the Atlantic coast are found from 

 Newfouiidland to Florida. It is hypothesized that there are three 

 populations: Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Gulf of 

 Maine/Bay of Fundy. However, there is not enough evidence to 

 test this hypothesis against the alternative of a single 

 population. Little is known about the seasonal movements of this 

 species except for the presence of summer aggregations in the 

 Gulf of Maine, Gulf of St. Lawrence and the east coast of 

 Newfoundland. 



The 1991 estimate of the Gulf of Maine population is 45,000 

 (95 percent Confidence Interval (CI): 19,000-80,000). No useful 

 estimates of abundance for the other populations exist. The best 

 estimates of bycatch by the U.S. Gulf of Maine sink gillnet 

 fishery in 1990 and 1991 were 2,400 (95 percent CI: 1,600-3,500) 

 and 1,700 (95 percent CI: 1,100-2,500). These estimates do not 

 include bycatch from fisheries south of Cape Cod or north of the 



