Marine Mammals

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed to designate the Sakhalin Bay-Nikolaya Bay-Amur River Stock of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) as a depleted stock of marine mammals pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
This action is being taken as a result of a status review conducted by NMFS in response to a petition to designate a group of beluga whales in the western Sea of Okhotsk as depleted.

NMFS believes that the biological evidence indicates that the group is a population stock as defined by the MMPA, and that the stock is depleted as defined by the MMPA.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has received a request from NMFS’ Southeast Fisheries Science Center for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to conducting fisheries research, over the course of five years from the date of issuance. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NMFS is announcing receipt of the SEFSC’s request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals, and invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on the SEFSC’s application and request. Comments and information must be received by NMFS no later than May 23, 2016.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued new five-year affirmative findings for the Governments of Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Spain under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. These new five-year affirmative findings will allow yellowfin tuna and yellowfin tuna products harvested in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean in compliance with the International Dolphin Conservation Program by The Nations’ flagged purse seine vessels or purse seine vessels operating under The Nations’ jurisdiction to be imported into the United States. The new five-year affirmative findings were based on reviews of documentary evidence submitted by the Governments of The Nations and obtained from the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission. These new five-year affirmative findings are effective for the five-year period of April 1, 2015, through March 31, 2020.

There is a new website dedicated to the recent work around the North Norwegian Humpback Whale Catalogue. Its creators explain:

“Recent years (2010-2016) have seen the annual recurrence of large schools of Norwegian Spring Spawning herring (Clupea harengus) in local fjord systems in Northern Norway during winter-time. This herring superabundance attracts humpback whales that use the region as a temporary feeding stopover area before embarking on their migration southward.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has requested comments on NMFS’ proposed issuance of an Incidental Harassment Authorization to take marine mammals to Quintillion Subsea Operations, LLC. This IHA would be effective during Quintillion’s subsea cable-laying operation in the state and federal waters of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas, Alaska, during the open-water season of 2016. All takes authorized would be by Level B Harassments. NMFS proposes to issue this IHA pursuant to NMFS’s authority under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Click here for more information on this proposed IHA.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published the following notice:

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is holding a third public comment period on a stand-alone document containing proposed changes to our draft acoustic guidance for assessing the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammal species [pdf] under our jurisdiction.

While NOAA was working to address public comments from the second public comment period and finalize the Guidance, NOAA and the Navy further evaluated certain aspects of the U.S. Navy’s methodology (Appendix A of Draft Guidance). As a result, several recommendations/modifications were suggested. After consideration of these recommendations. NOAA has revised the Draft Guidance to reflect these suggested changes and is proposing to solicit public comment on these changes via a focused public comment period.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Services requests comment on a Draft Environmental Assessment to analyze the environmental impacts of issuing
annual Incidental Take Authorizations pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the taking of marine mammals incidental to oil and gas activities in Cook Inlet, AK during 2016. NMFS must receive any comments and information on this draft EA no later than March 28, 2016.

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

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service is holding a public meeting as part of NMFS’ review of their recovery program under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The purpose of NMFS’ review is 1) to ensure that recovery program priorities and implementation are aligned with resources and mission mandates; 2) to enhance and align strategic management of NMFS’ regulatory programs; and 3) to provide transparency in the operation of NMFS’ recovery program.

The meeting will be held Tuesday April 19, 2016, through Thursday April 21, 2016, at 9 a.m.

The meeting will be held at the NOAA Science Center, 1301 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Iceland’s only fin whaling company says it won’t hunt the endangered whales for the Japanese market this summer. Click here to read National Geographic article about Iceland’s decision.

Click here to read more.

Places are still left for the ACCOBAMS/ASCOBANS workshop “Conserving Cetaceans in
the Seas around Europe through Synergy-building between the Relevant Legislative Frameworks”. It will be held on 12 March in Funchal, Madeira.

The Workshop aims to assess critically the gaps and overlaps between the many frameworks relevant for cetacean conservation (Habitats Directive (HD) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), ASCOBANS, HELCOM, OSPAR, ACCOBAMS, Barcelona Convention, Bucharest Convention, CMS, CBD, IWC), and to identify synergies that can be expected to help take forward cetacean conservation in an integrated and effective manner.

Please find the announcement of the ECS website here.