[Federal Register: June 26, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 122)]
[Notices]
[Page 30527-30528]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26jn09-38]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XP71
Notice of Availability of Draft Stock Assessment Reports
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; 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. SARs for marine mammals in the Alaska,
Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new
information. NMFS solicits public comments on draft 2009 SARs.
DATES: Comments must be received by September 24, 2009.
ADDRESSES: The 2009 draft stock assessment reports and summaries of
them 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 Jim
Carretta, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 8604 La Jolla Shores
Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037-1508.
Send comments or requests for copies of reports to: Chief, Marine
Mammal and Sea Turtle 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 301-427-2522 or via email to
mmsar.2009@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 Jim Carretta, 858-546-7171, e-mail Jim.Carretta@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 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
[[Page 30528]]
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
2009 SARs.
Alaska Reports
Twenty-three reports (14 strategic stocks and 9 non-strategic
stocks) were revised, and 13 reports were not revised. Most revisions
included updates of abundance and/or mortality estimates; there were no
changes in the status of the affected stocks.
The most recent 5-year period of incidental mortality and serious
injury estimates for Federal fisheries in Alaska is 2002-2006. Although
observer data from these fisheries are available for more recent years,
analysis of observer data from 2007 and 2008 has not been completed due
to changes in staffing and in the structure of the database. The 2007
and 2008 fishery mortality data are currently being analyzed, and these
results will be incorporated in the 2010 SARs.
Results from a collaborative international study on humpback whales
have been incorporated into the reports for the Central and Western
North Pacific stocks. These results produced new abundance estimates
for these stocks and allowed PBR for both stocks to be changed from
undetermined to calculated values. Both stocks remain strategic stocks
because they are populations of an endangered species.
Atlantic Reports
Fifty-two new or updated reports (16 strategic and 36 non-
strategic) are included among 2009 Atlantic regional SARs. Nineteen
reports were not revised. New reports include four stock-specific
reports for beaked whales and nine new reports of bay, sound, and
estuary stocks of bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic coast. The 39
revised reports included updates of abundance or mortality estimates,
strandings, and status of these stocks was unchanged. However,
Potential Biological Removal (PBR) estimates for three stocks of
dolphins (bottlenose, Atlantic spotted, and rough-toothed) in the Gulf
of Mexico were changed to ``undetermined'' because the abundance data
supporting these estimates are outdated (more than 8 years old).
The beaked whale reports were previously published as a combined
report (Mesoplodon sp.) because most beaked whale species cannot be
distinguished from one another during abundance surveys. Each of the
new reports and the report for Cuvier's beaked whale contain the same
numbers for abundance (3,513), minimum population estimate (2,154), and
PBR (17) and were included in the 2008 SAR for Mesoplodon sp.
Similarly, a single observed serious injury of an unidentified beaked
whale incidental to a long-line fishery is included in all reports;
three of the beaked whale species (Blainville's, Sowerby's, and True's)
have additional human-caused mortality based upon stranded animals that
were identified to species.
Bottlenose dolphins within bays, sounds, and estuaries along the
Atlantic coast were not included in previous stock assessment reports.
Although these stock identities have been proposed, there is sufficient
mixing of individuals from coastal and bay stocks that abundance and
mortality/serious injury estimates for all nine of the new bottlenose
dolphin stocks are unknown.
Pacific Reports
In the Pacific region, 13 reports were updated in 2009, including 8
strategic stocks and 5 non-strategic stocks; 50 SARs were not revised.
Most changes were updates of abundance or mortality estimates and did
not result in a change of status of any stock.
A new SAR for humpback whales in American Samoa waters, which is
strategic because all humpback whales are listed under the Endangered
Species Act, is also included. The assessment for Northern Oregon/
Washington Coast stock of harbor porpoise includes a name change
(``Oregon'' is appended to ``Northern Oregon'') to reflect recent stock
boundary changes. Changes in abundance estimates for the two stocks of
harbor porpoise that occur in Oregon waters are the result of these
boundary changes and do not reflect biological changes in the
populations.
Dated: June 19, 2009.
Helen M. Golde,
Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-15200 Filed 6-25-09; 8:45 am]
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