Marine Mammals

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has published its 12-month finding on a petition to list bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) within Fiordland, New Zealand as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. NMFS has decided that the bottlenose dolphins within Fiordland do not meet the criteria for identification as a distinct population segment. Therefore, these dolphins do not warrant listing, and NMFS does not propose to list these dolphins under the ESA.

Click here to read NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this action.

NOAA/NMFS’ 5-year review of the sperm whale’s status under the Endangered Species Act is now available here.

The 5-year review was conducted under section 4(c)(2)(A) of the ESA. NOAA/NMFS has determined that the sperm whale should remain classified as endangered. The sperm whale was listed in 1970 as endangered globally.

The National Academies of Science’s Ocean Studies Board has announced its “Assessment of the Cumulative Effects of Anthropogenic Stressors on Marine Mammals.” The NAS Review Committee will hold its first public meetings on June 16 and June 17, 2015, at the NAS Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington D.C. 20001. The June 16th public meeting begins at 12:30 pm.
The NAS describes the “Project Scope” as follows:

The U.S. Marine Mammal Commission seeks research proposals that will improve knowledge of the distribution and movements of the eastern population of North Pacific right whales, and/or contribute to the understanding of human-based risk factors that can be mitigated.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s recovery plan for North Pacific right whales identified assessment of the current distribution as the highest research priority for this species. Proposals submitted to the MMC’s RFP should address this research priority by addressing one or both of the following research foci: