[Federal Register: July 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 145)]
[Notices]
[Page 42815-42816]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28jy06-37]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 053106C]
Notice of Availability of Draft Stock Assessment Reports
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional
marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in accordance with the
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). SARs for marine mammals in the
Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new
information. NMFS solicits public comments on draft 2006 SARs.
DATES: Comments must be received by October 26, 2006.
ADDRESSES: The 2006 draft stock assessment reports are available in
electronic form via the Internet at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/sars/.
Copies of the Alaska Regional SARs may be requested from Robyn
Angliss, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE
BIN 15700, Seattle, WA 98115-0070.
Copies of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Regional SARs may be
requested from Gordon Waring, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166
Water St., Woods Hole, MA 02543.
Copies of the Pacific Regional SARs may be requested from Tina
Fahy, Southwest Regional Office, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Long
Beach, CA 90802-4213.
Send comments or requests for copies of reports to: Chief, Marine
Mammal Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, National
Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD
20910-3226, Attn: Stock Assessments. Comments may also be sent via
facsimile (fax) to 301-427-2516 or via e-mail to mmsar.2006@noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Eagle, Office of Protected
Resources, 301-713-2322, ext. 105, e-mail Tom.Eagle@noaa.gov; Robyn
Angliss 206- 526-4032, e-mail Robyn.Angliss@noaa.gov, regarding Alaska
regional stock assessments; Gordon Waring, 508-495-2311, e-mail
Gordon.Waring@noaa.gov, regarding Atlantic regional stock assessments;
or Tina Fahy, 562-280-4060, e-mail Christina.Fahy@noaa.gov, regarding
Pacific regional stock assessments.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 117 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) (16 U.S.C.
1361 et seq.) requires NMFS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS) to prepare stock assessments for each stock of marine mammals
occurring in waters under the jurisdiction of the United States. These
reports must contain
[[Page 42816]]
information regarding the distribution and abundance of the stock,
population growth rates and trends, estimates of annual human-caused
mortality and serious injury from all sources, descriptions of the
fisheries with which the stock interacts, and the status of the stock.
Initial reports were completed in 1995.
The MMPA requires NMFS and FWS to review the SARs at least annually
for strategic stocks and stocks for which significant new information
is available, and at least once every 3 years for non-strategic stocks.
NMFS and the FWS are required to revise a SAR if the status of the
stock has changed or can be more accurately determined. NMFS, in
conjunction with the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific Scientific Review
Groups (SRGs), reviewed the status of marine mammal stocks as required
and revised reports in the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions to
incorporate new information. NMFS solicits public comments on the draft
2006 SARs.
Alaska Reports
In the Alaska region, 18 reports were revised, and 18 were not
revised. Most changes were updates of abundance or mortality estimates
and did not change the status of the stock. SARs for the Alaska harbor
seals (Southeast Alaska, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea stocks) were
updated to include recent information on abundance, trends in
abundance, fishery-related serious injury and mortality, and
subsistence harvest levels. Although the abundance estimates now
reflected in the Alaska harbor seal SARs are higher than the estimates
in the past, this apparent increase is due to changes in analytical
procedures and does not necessarily reflect changes in abundance. The
best available information on Alaska harbor seal stock structure
suggests that there are more than the current three stocks identified
in the stock assessment reports; NMFS, in cooperation with appropriate
Alaska Native organizations, is evaluating the new genetic information
and anticipates making a joint recommendation regarding stock structure
in 2006.
Abundance estimates and Potential Biological Removal (PBR) levels
increased for northern fur seals and Steller sea lions. The increase in
the northern fur seal abundance was due to a recent survey of one
rookery on Bogoslof Island, which was last assessed in 1998 and has
grown appreciably since that time. The western Steller sea lion stock
assessment report acknowledges that genetics differences between
animals in western Alaska and Russia may be sufficient to support a
designation of an Asian stock of Steller sea lions.
The PBR level for Dall's porpoise is no longer calculated because
the abundance estimate is more than 8 years old and, according to NMFS'
guidelines for preparing SARs, is considered unreliable for use in
conservation decisions. The fisheries with which this stock overlaps
are observed regularly and have had low levels of Dall's porpoise
serious injury or mortality over at least the past 10 years. Because
the best available information indicates that human-related serious
injury and mortality is likely not a major concern, the stock remains
classified as ``not strategic''.
The PBR level for the Cook Inlet stock of beluga whales is no
longer calculated. The abundance is well below the maximum estimate in
the late 1970s, and the population may be declining due to unidentified
causes. Therefore, underlying assumption (that reducing or eliminating
human-caused mortality would allow the population to increase) of the
PBR approach does not appear to be valid, and NMFS cannot estimate a
maximum number of animals that may be removed from the population while
allowing the population to recover to its optimum sustainable
population levels.
The three stocks of harbor porpoise in the Alaska region (Southeast
Alaska, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea stocks) were changed from ``not
strategic'' to ``strategic''. For each stock, abundance estimates are
old. A number of fisheries in Alaska overlap harbor porpoise
distribution and may take porpoise; however, few fisheries have
observer data for estimating mortality. Furthermore, harbor porpoise
sightings on surveys for killer whales in Southeast Alaska indicate
fewer porpoise sightings per unit effort in recent years than in
earlier surveys. NMFS has, therefore, labeled these three stocks of
harbor porpoise as ``strategic'' stocks as a precautionary approach.
The status of Pacific white-sided dolphin, North Pacific stock, was
changed from ``strategic'' to ``not strategic''. There are no recent,
reliable estimates of abundance and mortality/serious injury for this
stock; however, white-sided dolphins have been seen during historical
surveys in portions of the stock's range at densities that suggest
sufficient numbers of dolphins to sustain the low levels of mortality
that were previously estimated since the termination of high-seas
driftnet fishing in 1991.
Atlantic Reports
Sixteen reports (four strategic and 12 non-strategic) were revised
in the Atlantic region, and 39 reports, including all reports for
marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico, were not revised. Most updates
were to include new abundance and mortality estimates and did not
change the status of the affected stocks.
Estimates of incidental mortality and serious injury for the
northeast and mid-Atlantic bottom trawl fisheries were not completed in
time for this draft release. SRG review of the estimates will be
completed prior to the commencement of the Atlantic trawl take
reduction team meeting in September 2006. Therefore, mortality
estimates and strategic status determinations are pending for long-
finned and short-finned pilot whales, common dolphin, Risso's dolphin
and Atlantic white-sided dolphin and will be included in the draft 2007
reports.
Pacific Reports
Of the 61 reports in the Pacific region, nine were revised for
2006. All revisions were updates to abundance and PBR or mortality
estimates, and none resulted in a change of the MMPA status (strategic
or not strategic). The SAR for killer whales, Eastern North Pacific
southern resident stock, was revised to indicate its listing as
endangered under the ESA; however, the stock was already ``strategic''
under the MMPA due to its earlier designation as depleted.
Dated: July 25, 2006.
James H. Lecky,
Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. E6-12126 Filed 7-27-06; 8:45 am]
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