42 



U.S. border. The estimated bycatch of the other two populations 

 is largely unknown, though some data do exist. Because this 

 level of bycatch has been determined as unsustainable, on January 

 7, 1993 NMFS proposed listing harbor porpoise in the Gulf of 

 Maine as threatened under the ESA. 



Two species of pilot whales occur in the North Atlantic, the 

 short-finned pilot whale in the south and the long-finned in the 

 north. The two species overlap seasonally in the Mid-Atlantic 

 region of the western North Atlantic. The long-finned pilot 

 whale occurs northward into Canadian and Greenland waters, and 

 eastward to Europe; this species is the subject of an ongoing 

 harvest around the Faroe Islands and incidental capture in 

 several fisheries in U.S. and Canadian waters. 



The short-finned pilot whale may be subject to a low level 

 of bycatch in several U.S. fisheries. Little is known of the 

 population structure and general life history of both species. 

 There are estimated to be 75,000 long-finned pilot whales in the 

 eastern North Atlantic and 11,000 in the continental shelf region 

 of the western North Atlantic. The estimate for the western 

 North Atlantic is more than 10 years old and is imprecise. 

 Ongoing surveys will update the western North Atlantic early in 

 1994. 



