[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37091-37092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-12754]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 060105A]


Notice of Availability of Draft Stock Assessment Reports

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; 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 (MMPA). SARs for marine mammals in the 
Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new 
information. NMFS solicits public comments on draft 2005 SARs.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 26, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Send comments or requests for copies of reports to: Chief, 
Marine Mammal 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 301-427-2580 or via email to 
[email protected].
    Copies of the Pacific Regional SARs may be requested from Cathy 
Campbell, Southwest Regional Office, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, 
Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.
    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 Cathy 
Campbell, Southwest Regional Office, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, 
Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Eagle, Office of Protected 
Resources, 301-713-2322, ext. 105, e-mail [email protected]; Robyn 
Angliss 206-526-4032, e-mail [email protected], regarding Alaska 
regional stock assessments; Gordon Waring, 508-495-2311, e-mail 
[email protected], regarding Atlantic regional stock assessments; 
or Cathy Campbell, 562-280-4060, e-mail [email protected], 
regarding Pacific regional stock assessments.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    The 2005 draft stock assessment reports are available in electronic 
form via the Internet at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/PR2/Stock_Assessment_Program/sars.html.

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 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 
2005 SARs.
    SARs for marine mammal stocks in the Alaska and Atlantic regions 
were updated to include all new information that has become available 
since the 2003 reports were completed. In the Alaska region, reports 
for 27 stocks were revised, and nine were not changed. For the Atlantic 
region, 43 revised reports are available, and 12 SARs were not revised. 
Reports in the Pacific region were updated with information

[[Page 37092]]

available since the 2004 SARs were completed. Reports for five Pacific 
marine mammal stocks were revised, and reports for 55 stocks were not 
revised.

Alaska Reports

    Changes in fishery definitions in the proposed List of Fisheries 
for 2005 caused minor changes in most of the 36 reports for Alaska 
stocks because six Federal fisheries in the Alaska region were 
separated into 22 fisheries (69 FR 70094, December 2, 2004). These 
reclassifications required fishery-specific mortality levels to be 
recalculated for stocks incidentally seriously injured or killed in 
each of the newly-defined fisheries.
    The status of the Central North Pacific stock of Pacific white-
sided dolphins was changed from non-strategic to strategic. Low-levels 
of human-caused mortality and serious injury continued; however, the 
abundance estimate for the stock is now more than 8 years old and no 
longer used to calculate a Potential Biological Removal (PBR) level.
    The Eastern North Pacific stock of transient killer whales was 
separated into three stocks, a change initiated by NMFS' recognition of 
AT1 killer whales as a separate stock after reviewing a petition to 
designate the AT1 group of transient killer whales as a depleted stock 
under the MMPA (69 FR 31231, June 3, 2004). The remaining transient 
killer whales in the North Pacific Ocean were divided into two stocks, 
the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea transient stock and 
the West Coast transient stock. The AT1 transient stock is designated 
as a strategic stock due to its depleted status under the MMPA, and the 
other two stocks are non-strategic.
    Using estimates based upon surveys of humpback whales in Hawaii, 
the maximum net productivity rate for both stocks of humpback whales in 
Alaska (Western North Pacific and Central North Pacific stocks) was 
estimated to be 7 percent. In addition, the SAR for humpback whales, 
Central North Pacific stock, was revised to include separate abundance, 
PBR, and mortality estimates for the southeast Alaska feeding 
aggregation.
    Although neither status was changed, abundance estimates and PBR 
increased for both stocks of Steller sea lions. The increase in the 
abundance estimate of the Eastern U.S. stock of Steller sea lions was 
more than 40 percent.
    Declines in counts of northern fur seal pups in the Pribilof 
Islands began in 1998 and continued through 2004 at an annual rate 
exceeding 5 percent. The abundance estimate of this stocks, which is 
derived from pup counts, declined by more than 200,000 individuals to 
688,028. Direct human-caused mortality continues to be a small portion 
of the calculated PBR, and the stock remains identified as strategic 
due to its designation as depleted under the MMPA.
    The point estimate for gray whale abundance declined by more than 
9,000 whales since the last SAR update. Some evidence suggests this 
stock may have reached carrying capacity, and the decline is a response 
to environmental limitations. Although the 2000/2001 estimate is 
incomplete because whales continued to migrate after the normal 
migration period ended in 2001, the 2001/2002 effort observed a more 
normal migration period and still produced a smaller abundance 
estimate. There is also concern that the animals may not have migrated 
as far south as the observer locations during both surveys, such as 
occurred in 1992/1993.
    An initial minimum estimate for fin whale abundance (5,703) is now 
available. This is actually an estimate of the size of the population 
west of the Kenai Peninsula as the full range of Alaska fin whales has 
not been surveyed.

Atlantic Reports

    The status of Atlantic short-finned and long-finned pilot whale 
stocks changed from strategic to non strategic. For stocks in the 
Atlantic Ocean, many reports were updated to include new abundance 
estimates derived from an integrated, multi-platform survey in summer 
2004 along the coast of the entire eastern seaboard of the U.S.
    All of the reports for marine mammals stocks in the northern Gulf 
of Mexico were updated from the 2003 final SARs to include new 
abundance or mortality estimates. In addition, information on the 
status of three stocks of coastal bottlenose dolphins (Eastern Gulf of 
Mexico, Northern Gulf of Mexico, and Western Gulf of Mexico) was 
combined into a single report for 2005 (Gulf of Mexico coastal stocks) 
to reduce duplication of text. The report for bottlenose dolphin, 
Northern Gulf of Mexico Coastal stocks, showed that the status of each 
of the three stocks changed from non-strategic to strategic. The 
abundance and PBR estimates for each stock changed to undefined because 
the abundance estimates were more than 8 years old and no longer 
considered reliable, and human-caused mortality and serious injury 
continued.

Pacific Reports

    Among the changes in reports for the Pacific region, only short-
finned pilot whales, California/Oregon/Washington stock, changed 
status. The PBR for this stock was increased from 1.19 to 1.2, and 
human-caused mortality decreased from 1.2 to 1.0. Consequently, the 
stock is designated as non-strategic because human-caused mortality is 
less than the calculated PBR.
    The reports for Southern Resident killer whales and Hawaiian monk 
seals were updated with new abundance estimates. Reports for Eastern 
North Pacific humpback whales and California harbor seals were updated 
with new abundance and mortality estimates. The report for false killer 
whales, Hawaii stock, was updated with a new PBR estimate (reflecting a 
change in the recovery factor) and new mortality estimates. For this 
stock, reported human-caused mortality or serious injury was limited 
only to that occurring in the Exclusive Economic Zone around the 
Hawaiian archipelago to be consistent with the reported range of the 
stock (and abundance estimate).

    Dated: June 21, 2005.
Donna S. Wieting,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05-12754 Filed 6-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S