[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 29, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-7313]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 29, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 031694A]

 

Information Relating to Bowhead Whales; Proposed U.S. Position at 
1994 Annual Meeting of International Whaling Commission

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce

ACTION: Notice of information and request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: Information is published by NMFS for use in the development of 
the U.S. position before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 
the aboriginal/subsistence take of bowhead whales. NMFS is soliciting 
public comment on the proposed U.S. position at the 1994 Annual Meeting 
of the IWC (May 23-27, 1994) for a quota of bowhead whales for 
aboriginal subsistence use by U.S. natives for the years 1995 to 1997.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 28, 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 upon request, and the documents examined 
during business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) during the 30-day public 
comment period at this address.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA is responsible for implementation and 
enforcement of relevant portions 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). NMFS provides 
staff support to the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC and to the IWC 
Interagency Committee, and it is charged with developing preliminary 
positions for the annual meetings of the IWC. Consistent with these 
responsibilities, NMFS has developed a preliminary U.S. position for 
the 1994 annual meeting of the IWC on an aboriginal subsistence quota 
of bowhead whales for the years 1995 to 1997, to be implemented 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).
    To provide for the public to review and comment on the data upon 
which the U.S. position is based, the following information is 
provided: (1) A summary of available bowhead scientific information, 
including estimates of current population level and annual recruitment 
rates; (2) a summary of information on the nature and extent of 
aboriginal/subsistence need; (3) updated estimates of need for the nine 
whaling villages that have been reviewed by the IWC, based on the 1990 
census data; (4) information about the need for the island village of 
Little Diomede to land one bowhead whale per year; and (5) the NMFS 
preliminary position regarding bowhead whales at the 1994 annual 
meeting of the IWC. NMFS is soliciting public comment on the proposed 
position regarding bowhead whales at the 1994 Annual Meeting of the 
IWC.

1. Scientific Information

    At the 1991 IWC meeting, the Scientific Committee agreed that the 
Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Sea population of bowhead whales was between 
6,400 and 9,200 animals, with a most likely estimate of 7,500 whales. A 
minimum estimate of the replacement yield 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 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.
    The Scientific Committee will review the status of this stock 
before the 1994 annual meeting, including additional scientific 
information gathered since the 1991 review. A preliminary analysis of 
the additional data is not yet available.

2. 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 the DOI 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 subsistence 
and cultural need of nine Alaskan 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 whaling villages. The result of this 
calculation is the total number of bowhead whales these Eskimo whaling 
villages need to land each year to meet their cultural and subsistence 
need.
    Based on the 1988 DOI study, the aboriginal subsistence and 
cultural need for the nine whaling villages in the original DOI study 
were calculated to be: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Need  
                           Village                              (landed)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gambell......................................................          3
Savoonga.....................................................          3
Wales........................................................          1
Kivalina.....................................................          1
Point Hope...................................................          9
Wainwright...................................................          5
Barrow.......................................................         16
Niuqsut......................................................          2
Kaktovik.....................................................          1
                                                              ----------
    Total....................................................        41 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    At the 43rd annual meeting of the IWC, Reykjavik, Iceland, May 27-
31, 1991, the IWC accepted this need calculation, and 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).)

Since this quota expires in 1994, the U.S. intends to seek an 
additional 3-year quota at this year's annual meeting of the IWC.

3. 1990 U.S. Census Data

    The 1988 DOI study relied on human population data for various 
years from 1983 to 1987 for nine whaling communities and was conducted 
before the 1990 census data were available. In 1992, the Alaska Eskimo 
Whaling Commission (AEWC) recalculated the aboriginal subsistence and 
cultural need using the identical formula accepted by the IWC for 
calculating aboriginal subsistence and cultural need, updated with the 
1990 census data.
    Using the 1990 census data, the revised aboriginal subsistence and 
cultural need is calculated to be: 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Need  
                           Village                              (landed)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gambell......................................................          3
Savoonga.....................................................          3
Wales........................................................          1
Kivalina.....................................................          1
Point Hope...................................................         10
Wainwright...................................................          5
Barrow.......................................................         19
Niuqsut......................................................          3
Kaktovik.....................................................          2
                                                              ----------
    Total....................................................        47 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    NMFS is informed that the AEWC has asked the individuals who 
conducted the original DOI study to further update the human population 
data through 1992 and that it has offered to provide this information 
to NMFS.

4. Request for Little Diomede

    The island of Little Diomede is remote and accessible only a few 
months of the year. As a result, complete historic data for Little 
Diomede were not combined with the data from any of the nine whaling 
villages listed above, nor was Little Diomede included in the 1988 
analysis of subsistence and cultural need. While some historical 
whaling data for Little Diomede were collected, they were not complete.
    References to whaling by the village of Little Diomede date back at 
least to the 18th century. The tradition of whaling continued into the 
20th century. The most recent known catch of a bowhead whale was in 
1979. Information on the subsistence and cultural need for bowhead 
whales by the village of Little Diomede was submitted to the IWC by the 
U.S. in 1992. The U.S. delegation called attention at that time to the 
need for one additional bowhead whale for Little Diomede. However, 
because a 3-year quota had been established the previous year, the U.S. 
did not seek any changes to the quota. Likewise, in 1993, the U.S. 
delegation called attention to the situation of Little Diomede, but did 
not seek a change in the quota.

5. Proposed U.S. Position at the 1994 Annual Meeting of the IWC

    Based on the census data presently available for the nine 
previously recognized whaling villages and on the documented need of 
the village of Little Diomede to land one bowhead whale per year, the 
U.S. intends to seek a quota of a total of 48 bowhead whales landed per 
year for 1995 through 1997. Assuming a 75 percent efficiency in landing 
whales, the U.S. will seek IWC approval to strike up to 64 bowheads in 
order to land 48. The U.S. will take this position only if, in the view 
of the IWC Scientific Committee, such a quota will continue to allow 
the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Sea population of bowhead whales to move to 
the maximum sustainable yield level.

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

    Dated: March 22, 1994.
Charles Karnella,
Acting Program Management Officer, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 94-7313 Filed 3-28-94; 8:45 am]
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