[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-5891]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 14, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket No. 940256-4055; I.D. 011494A]

 

Information Relating to Bowhead Whales; U.S. Implementation of 
Bowhead Whale Strike Quota for 1994

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), NOAA, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: Information is published by NOAA for use in the development of 
the U.S. position before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 
the aboriginal/subsistence take of bowhead whales and in the domestic 
allocation of the existing IWC quota for bowhead whales to U.S. 
natives. NOAA is soliciting public comment on the proposed allocation 
of the IWC bowhead whale catch limit in 1994.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 13, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be mailed to the Office of 
International Affairs, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1335 East-
West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. A list of documents reviewed for 
this action may be obtained on request, and the documents examined 
during business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at this address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Chu, (301) 713-2276.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA is responsible for implementation and 
enforcement of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361-1407), 
the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C 1531-1543) and the Whaling 
Convention Act 16 U.S.C. 916-916l). In addition, it provides staff 
support to the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC and to the IWC Interagency 
Committee. Consistent with these responsibilities, NOAA develops 
positions for implementation of the aboriginal/subsistence harvest of 
bowhead whales under Paragraph 13 of the Schedule to the International 
Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, December 2, 1946, 62 Stat. 
1716, T.I.A.S. No. 1849 (entered into force, November 10, 1948).
    In order to provide for review and comment by the public of the 
data upon which the U.S. positions are based, the following information 
is provided: (1) The IWC catch level available for the U.S. aboriginal/
subsistence bowhead whale harvest for 1992-1994; (2) a summary of 
available bowhead scientific information, including estimates of 
current population level and annual recruitment rates; (3) a summary of 
information on the nature and extent of aboriginal/subsistence need; 
(4) the level of aboriginal/subsistence harvest limits which could be 
implemented domestically; and (5) notice of the availability of those 
documents reviewed by NOAA and relied on by the Under Secretary for 
Oceans and Atmosphere in making his finding on the range of harvest 
limits. NOAA is soliciting public comment on the proposed domestic 
implementation of the IWC bowhead whale catch limit for 1994.

1. Catch Level

    At the 43rd Annual Meeting of the IWC, Reykjavik, Iceland, May 27-
31, 1991, the following catch limit was established for aboriginal/
subsistence whaling:

    ``The taking of bowhead whales from the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort 
Seas stock by aborigines is permitted, but only when the meat and 
products of such whales are to be used exclusively for local 
consumption by the aborigines and further provided that: For each of 
the years 1992, 1993, and 1994 combined, the total number of whales 
struck shall not exceed 141, except that: (A) Any unused strikes up 
to ten percent of the total strikes allowed in the years 1989, 1990, 
and 1991 combined shall be carried forward from those years and 
added to the combined total of strikes for the years 1992, 1993, and 
1994; and (B) in any one year no more than 54 whales shall be struck 
and no more than 41 shall be landed. (Schedule to the Convention, 
Paragraph 13(b)(1)(i).)

2. Scientific Information

    At the 1991 IWC meeting, the Scientific Committee agreed that the 
Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Sea population of bowhead whales is between 
6,400 and 9,200 animals, with a most likely estimate of 7,500 whales. A 
minimum estimate of the replacement yield (RY) was calculated to be 92 
whales per year, and the most likely replacement yield for the 
population size of 7,500 is 254 whales per year. The replacement yield 
defines the number of new whales annually joining the adult population, 
and it is assumed that, all other things being constant, up to this 
number could be taken from the population without causing it to 
decline.

3. Aboriginal/Subsistence Need

    The Department of the Interior (DOI) conducted its analysis of the 
nature and extent of aboriginal/subsistence need for bowhead whales and 
whaling in 1983, and the IWC adopted this method for quantifying need 
in 1986. DOI contracted for a new study on the quantification of 
subsistence and cultural need for bowhead whales in 1987, which was 
presented at the 1988 meeting. The new study presented the cultural and 
subsistence need of nine Alaska Eskimo whaling villages to take 41 
landed bowhead whales. This quantification of need used the same method 
of calculation accepted by the IWC in 1986. This method derives the 
mean annual number of bowhead whales landed per capita during a 
specified historical period and multiplies this mean by the current 
Eskimo population of nine Alaska Eskimo whaling villages. The result of 
this calculation is the total number of bowhead whales these Eskimo 
whaling villages need to land each year in order to meet their cultural 
and subsistence need.
    When the IWC adopted this method of quantifying need, members of 
the IWC Aboriginal Subsistence Subcommittee noted that the 
quantification was based on a large but incomplete series of data on 
historical bowhead landings. It was also noted that the quantification 
used an inconsistent data base period. The DOI study was initiated to 
correct these deficiencies. To complete the series of data on 
historical bowhead whale landings to the extent possible, the study 
undertook a comprehensive review of available published and unpublished 
sources of bowhead landings. Remaining gaps are unlikely to be 
significantly reduced with further searches for historic data on 
bowhead landings. The data resulting from this study also permitted the 
use of a consistent historical base period for the calculation of need. 
In the prior analysis, the base periods varied from 1940 to 1970 and 
1950 to 1970. The base period now begins in 1910, the year following 
the cessation of commercial whaling in the Arctic, and ends in 1969, 
prior to the period of unusually high bowhead harvests in the unique 
economic circumstances of the 1970s. Therefore, applying the additional 
landed bowhead data and the longer period to the accepted method of 
quantifying need, results in a current cultural and subsistence need of 
41 landed whales.

4. Domestic Harvest Range

    The IWC management scheme for aboriginal/subsistence whaling 
provides (in Schedule paragraph 13(a)(2)): ``For stocks below the 
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) level but above a certain minimum 
level, aboriginal/subsistence catches shall be permitted so long as 
they are set at levels which allow whale stocks to move to the MSY 
level.'' Given the above-stated estimates of replacement yields of 92 
(lower bound) to 254 whales for the point estimate recruited into the 
population annually, an aboriginal/subsistence catch can be permitted 
in 1994.
    The catch limit for bowhead whales for the years 1992-1994, 
established by the IWC, is 141 strikes plus 13 strikes carried over 
from the previous block quota with no more than 54 whales struck and no 
more than 41 landed in any one year. Of the 154 total strikes for 1992-
1994, 50 bowhead whales were struck and 38 were landed in 1992, and 52 
were struck and 41 landed in 1993. Therefore, the number under 
consideration for allocation to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission 
for the 1994 catch limit is 52 strikes or 41 landed whales.

5. Documents Reviewed

    A list of the documents reviewed for this action may be obtained on 
request (see ADDRESSES). The documents are available for public 
inspection during the 30-day public comment period at the same address.

(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 916, 1361-1407, 1531-43)

    Dated: January 14, 1994.
D. James Baker,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
[FR Doc. 94-5891 Filed 3-11-94; 8:45 am]
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