Marine Mammal Protection Research Articles

Earth to Gore, Earth to Gore

As my title suggests, these comments are addressed to one of most dismal spectacles that Clinton administration has served up-the case of disappearing ozone man, as David Corn recently described our vicepresident in pages of Nation.1 Ozone man was moniker used by George Bush on campaign trail of 1992 to direct ridicule at erstwhile gentle green giant from Tennessee and his environmentally minded constituency, reviled by same Bush as the spotted owl crowd. Even for those with low expectations from a Clinton presidency, his association with Gore was expected, at very least, to bear some kind of harvest for environmental movement, invited into corridors of power for first time. Nothing, it was reasoned, could possibly be worse than widespread damage wrought by Dan Quayle's Council on Competitiveness in its four years of pro-corporate butchery. Even with critics holding their fire, it took Clintonistas (as they are termed, incredibly enough, by movement conservatives) less than a year to dispel all illusions of an emergent green government. Each new attempt to revise existing environmental legislation is currently being weakened in Congress, with apparent assent of Clinton and Gore. Even most worshipful of army of Clinton environmentalists are coming around to agree that it is better to have no new environmental regulation at all than to risk enfeebling current laws (especially big-hitter legislation like Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and Superfund) by rendering them vulnerable to principle of voluntary compliance, habitually favored by Clinton in matters of regulation. Under terms of GATT trade agreements, enthusiastically brokered by Clinton, many of U.S.'s basic environmental laws-the Marine Mammal Protection Act; Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards; Magnuson Act and Pelly Amendment, regulating overfishing; Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act; Food and Water Safety laws; dozens of California laws on emissions, dangerous additives, recycling, and waste reduction; and laws in every state that limit toxic substances in packaging-can be challenged as barriers to free trade by countries with virtually no environmental legislation of their own. Thirty years of hard-won achievements in field of consumer and environmental protections, along with hopes of future advances, will be endangered with a stroke of Clinton's GATT pen. Some commentators like Mark Dowie have suggested that, far from guaranteeing environmentalists fabled access to White House, Gore, Andrew Ross

The Declaration of a Sanctuary for the Protection of Marine Mammals in the Mediterranean

The Declaration of a Sanctuary for the Protection of Marine Mammals in the Mediterranean

AN ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE METHOD

Abstract: A new method, the “dynamic response method,” was developed (DeMaster et al. 1982) in an attempt to use time series data on relative population sizes to satisfy the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 for maintaining an “optimum sustainable population” of marine mammals. Three methods of implementing this approach were studied, using a computer simulation of stochastic population growth with density-dependence operating on first-year survival in the form of a generalized-logistic function. Methods developed by Gerrodette (1988) and Boveng et al. (1988) appeared to be less sensitive than desirable when used with the simulated population data. The third method, developed in this study, offers better protection against “Type II error” (failing to identify populations in the optimum sustainable population range), particularly when combined with Gerrodette's (1988) approach.

An Aquatic Perspective on U.S. Biodiversity Policy

Conservation of elements of biological diversity is an implicit but often unrecognized tenet of U.S. environmental policy. Biodiversity concerns underlie statutory requirements to “restore and maintain the biological integrity of the nation's waters” (Clean Water Act) and to prevent extinction (Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act). Yet without an explicit policy and strategy to protect biological diversity, biodiversity is being reduced at an alarming rate. A national strategy to conserve biodiversity should proceed on five fronts: research, establishment of protected areas, conservation in multiple-use areas, recovery of endangered species and ecosystems, and education. It is inappropriate to rely on protected areas as the primary conservation measure for most aquatic systems, which need substantial restoration and management. Recovery of endangered aquatic biota must be accomplished through an ecosystem approach. Legislation to make conservation of biodiversity a national policy and to direct a national biodiversity strategy has been introduced in Congress.

The Heard Island global program: Today Heard Island, tomorrow the world.

The objective of the Heard Island global program is to develop and implement a global acoustic network for the detection of climatic variability in the ocean, using the principle that sound travels faster in warmer water. The first phase was the Heard Island feasibility test, which showed in January 1991 that m-sequence coded acoustic signals transmitted 18 000 km could easily be heard and that their travel times could be measured to a few tens of milliseconds; this is sufficient to detect potential ocean warming against background oceanic fluctuations after about ten years of monitoring. The second phase of the global program (FY92–94) will prepare for the implementation of acoustic sources and receivers at sites around the world. The preparations consist of the development and testing of improved sources and receivers, of a network design that takes into account global models of greenhouse warming and ocean response, and of working with the marine mammal research and protection communities so that the acoustic programs can also provide much-needed information on the response of marine mammals to low-frequency sounds. The third and fourth phases of the global program are the actual implementation of the acoustic network (FY94–97) and the operation of the network for at least a decade (FY95–05). The implementation will first take place in a sparse network configuration for broad ocean monitoring that is global, starting in the Atlantic, the Indian, then the Pacific Ocean, followed by implementation of higher-resolution regional (mapping) networks.

QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM SUSTAINABLE POPULATION LEVEL

AbstractQuantitative methods are reviewed and compared for determining whether a marine mammal population is at an optimum sustainable population (OSP) level, a management goal specified by the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Methods of OSP determination fall into two general types: those that require an estimate of a population's maximum net productivity level (e.g., the back‐calculation method) and those that do not (e.g., dynamic response analysis). The two types differ in the data they require and in whether they determine OSP with respect to present or historical carrying capacity. Back‐calculation and dynamic response analyses are compared using data on the California gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus.) Marine mammal monitoring programs should be designed to detect trends in both the abundance of a population and its condition relative to carrying capacity, because both quantities are involved in the definition of OSP. The value of using both abundance and condition indices in an assessment is illustrated with data on the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus.)

Abundance and Distribution of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) in Oregon, 1975-1983

Harbor seals were observed on 32 haulout sites in Oregon during aerial counts conducted from 1975 to 1983; 90% were seen on 14 sites. The greatest number of seals seen on a haulout was 985 recorded at Cape Arago in July 1982. Counts of harbor seals in 1982 and 1983 were 38.6% greater than counts from 1975 to 1980. These data indicate an increase in numbers of harbor seals in Oregon, an increase corroborated by other information, namely, lower counts made before 1975 and increased use of new haulout sites since 1975. Between 1975 and 1983, numbers within bays increased, whereas numbers on most offshore rocks remained somewhat constant. Decreased harassment and mortality since implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 doubtless allowed harbor seals to increase in numbers and to reoccupy protected haulout sites in bays. The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardsi) is one of five pinniped species common in Oregon. It is the most abundant and ubiquitous pinniped in the state, found in most bays and estuaries, and on many offshore rocks. Harbor seal abundance has been determined at specific haulout sites along the Oregon coast (Graybill 1981; Brown and Mate 1983; Roffe and Mate 1984; Bayer 1985), although there is only one published account of their state-wide distribution and abundance (Pearson and Verts 1970). From 1967 to 1968, Pearson and Verts (1970) conducted four counts from land and one aerial count along the Oregon coast and concluded that there were fewer than 500 harbor seals in the state. More than 3800 harbor seals were killed in Oregon between 1925 and 1972 by statehired and bounty hunters (Pearson 1969). Harbor seals were harassed at inshore areas where they rested and pupped, and their number in Oregon was probably reduced. Harassment and killing of harbor seals were greatly reduced after 1972 when the Marine Mammal Protection Act became effective. Protection probably has resulted in an increase in abundance and redistribution of animals into bays and estuaries. The objectives of this study were to determine the location and use of haulout sites and to document any changes in abundance and distribution of harbor seals in Oregon from 1975 to 1983. METHODS Aerial photographic surveys of seals on land along the entire Oregon coast were performed annually from a high-winged, single-engine aircraft (Cessna 172 or 182) during 1 month in the summer (June, July, or August) from 1975 to 1983 (Fig. 1). Surveys were begun approximately 2 hr before low tide and ended approximately 2 hr after low tide to maximize the number of seals visible on haulout sites (Schneider and Payne 1983; Terhune and Almon 1983). The entire Oregon coastline was scanned during annual surveys to determine locations of harbor seals ashore and to locate new haulout sites. When more than five seals were ashore, the group was photographed from an altitude of 215-305 m using a hand-held 35 mm camera and 300 mm or 70 to 210 mm zoom lens. Photographs were taken within 15° of vertical. Photographic images of seals on land were projected onto a white surface, and each seal was counted. Photographic surveys required 2 days; flights were made from Newport to the north or south on consecutive days. Surveys of some haulout sites were not possible because of inclement weather.

The new environmental paradigm scale: Wildlife and environmental beliefs in British Columbia

Abstract Societal attitudes toward and values placed on wildlife are in transition. Increasing public and environmental group involvement in decision making has resulted in conflicts with established users of the natural environment. Resolution of such conflicts may be aided by identification of people's environmental values and beliefs. The article examines the new environmental paradigm (NEP) scale, which focuses on and assesses generic environmental dispositions or primitive beliefs. It reports the application of the scale to three sample populations in a study of conflicts between fishing interests and marine mammal protection in British Columbia. Environmentalists and the general public exhibited strong support for the NEP and the ecologically benign world view that it embodies. Commercial fishers, however, displayed a strong rejection of all aspects of the NEP scale. It is suggested that the NEP provides a useful referential framework of environmental beliefs in which to understand attitudes and to ...

Marine mammals and fisheries conflicts: A philosophical dispute

An unresolved philosophical controversy between the two camps of the environmental movement—the conservationists and the protectionists—causes much of the conflict found in marine wildlife policy today. This paper reviews this philosophical dispute as it existed during the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and as it exists today in the implementation of that law, especially in relation with the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (1976) provisions. Three case studies are presented: (1) the possible ‘depleted’ status designation for the northern fur seal, (2) the lack of lethal management options for curbing sea lions at the Ballard Locks fish ladder in Washington State, and (3) the problems associated with managing marine mammal and fisheries resource competition. The paper concludes by comparing marine mammal protection with the animal rights/anti-hunting movement onshore, and establishes an hypothetical scenario where protectionism continues to supercede the activities of fishermen.

Marine mammals and offshore geophysical exploration

Because of the letter, and intent, of laws, the petroleum exploration industry, just as other ocean users, has a special responsibility relating to the fauna which inhabits the environment in which we work. Laws that especially focus on marine mammals are the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and international treaties such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Wild Fauna and Flora. Additionally, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act denotes the special relationship between the purposes of that act — to develop the minerals potential of the OCS — and marine mammals. These include species that reside in a defined area throughout their lifespan, and those that migrate between breeding and feeding grounds. It is therefore necessary to consider the possible effects of marine operations on resident populations as well as on migration paths and migratory behavior.

Back to the drawing board: Fourth amendment rights and the marine mammal protection act

Back to the drawing board: Fourth amendment rights and the marine mammal protection act

BEYOND BEAN COUNTING AND WHALE TALES

AbstractThree developments have implications for the future study of marine mammal behavior: 1) The number and affiliation of researchers have increased from a few individuals representing the interests of government or industry to many people conducting studies from a variety of points of view; 2) The interpretation of natural selection's operation on social behavior and life history patterns has shifted from emphasizing group to individual benefits; and 3) The passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act has committed the United States to manage, research and protect marine mammal populations. Despite negative aspects of each development, the overall effect on marine mammal research will be positive. The combination of these changes and the interaction and collaboration of researchers with diverse orientations will spur new and varied research efforts and lead to a deeper understanding of marine mammals.

What diving animals might tell us about blood flow regulation.

WHAT DIVING ANIMALS MIGHT TELL US ABOUT BLOOD FLOW REGULATION BRETT A. GOODEN* and ROBERT ELSNERt The ability of air-breathing aquatic mammals and birds to dive for long durations has intrigued physiologists for over 100 years. Much of this capacity results from enhanced oxygen storage and selective vasoconstriction in tissues other than the brain, with consequent conservation of oxygen. However, this view may be too simplistic, since recent studies have revealed a rapid and profound inhibition of the ability of arteries to constrict when subjected to ischemia or pure hypoxia [1, 2]. Nowhere in nature is the apparent conflict between local tissue metabolic needs and survival of the whole organism better demonstrated than in the protection of marine mammals from asphyxia during diving. Central nervous control of tissue blood flow during diving appears, on initial scrutiny, to be at odds with the autoregulatory control of blood flow at the tissue level. These matters raise fundamental and fascinating questions for physiological investigation. Seals and the Theory of Selective Ischemia While most dives in nature are brief and undemanding, the ability to perform occasional long diving maneuvers is an integral part of the seal's evolutionary endowment. The seal's capability for dealing with the progressive asphyxia of long dives in nature or with similar dives performed in the laboratory is our concern here. Breath-hold diving of the Antarctic marine mammal, the Weddell seal, represents one of the more remarkable examples of physiological adaptation to diving. This animal is capable of swimming under ice for periods of 1 hour or longer on a single breath of air [3, pp. 227-61; A]. The Weddell seal lives on fish and *Address: 7 Hay Road, Linden Park, South Australia 5065. Formerly of Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. flnstitute of Marine Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701.© 1985 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 003 1-5982/85/2803-0435$0 1 .00 Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 28, 3 ¦ Spring 1985 \ 465 for much of the year must hunt its prey under the sea ice. The average swimming speed is about 8 kph, but this is probably interspersed with brief bursts of intense activity during hunting. During the last few decades we have learned much about the mechanisms that allow the seal to perform such extraordinary feats (for review, see [5]). Both anatomical and physiological adaptations are involved, but perhaps the most important of these are the cardiovascular adjustments that take place during diving. About 45 years ago the research of Laurence Irving and P. F. Scholander laid the foundations of our knowledge of these profound changes [6-8]. Results of studies by them and others on experimentally dived animals may be summarised as follows. Shortly after the beginning of such dives, cardiac output and heart rate are diminished, and blood flow is drastically reduced in most vascular beds of the seal, including the skeletal muscle, kidneys, and gut. The evidence indicates that blood flow is actually arrested in some regions. This change in flow reduces the overall metabolic rate of the animal and hence conserves the available oxygen for the vital and oxygen lacksensitive tissues—the heart and the brain. By the process of this selective ischemia the animal becomes effectively a "heart-brain" preparation. In general these responses have been shown to hold, with variations, for a wide variety of animals during laboratory and free dives. The more profound the cardiovascular changes, the greater is the resistance to diving asphyxia. Hence, man, who usually shows only a modest cardiovascular response during breath-hold diving, is a relatively poor diver . Species differences in blood- and muscle-oxygen stores and in anaerobic capacity also play important roles [5]. Diving by seals elicits graded responses varying in intensity with duration and the severity of imposed stresses. Brief dives (less than approximately 20 minutes in free-swimming Weddell seals [4] and 8 minutes in quiet, restrained harbor seals [9]) depend largely on oxygen-sustained metabolism, whereas anaerobic capabilities provide additional metabolic support for the more stressful and longer-duration dives. Trained command dives by seals in the laboratory, when the animal is relaxed, elicit a less intense...

Managing the Ocean Resources of the United States: The Role of the Federal Marine Sanctuaries Program

In 1969, the Straton Commission report provided a plan for the systematic development of a national policy on marine affairs. In subsequent years no such systematic approach to a coherent marine policy was undertaken. The de facto policy approach of the 1970s was a plethora of individual legislative acts which provided specific de jure rules, but which left administrators the complex problems of working out the administration of areas of overlapping authority, with conflicting or inconsistent goals and jurisdiction. The major acts of the 1970s, the Fishery Conservation a n d Management Act of 1976; Mammals and Non‐Migratory Birds—The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972; Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972; Endangered Species Act of 1973; Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972; and others, are clear indications of a national commitment to regulation of the markets for the output from the ocean sector. But while the need for intervention in markets was clear to legislators, the failure to employ a systematic approach and provide guidelines adequate to permit the rationalization of complex problems doomed the piecemeal approach to ocean policy to ever increasing administrative problems and ultimately to ineffective government programs.

Movement and speed of dolphin schools responding to an approaching ship

Eight dolphin schools of the species Stenella attenuata. S. longk-ostris, and S. coeruleoalba were approached by ship and observed from a helicopter in the eastern Pacific to study their response to the vessel. All schools swam away from the projected track of the aproaching ship. Their movement, relative to the ship, followed paths that curved around the ship. Average swimming speeds while avoiding the ship varied from 5.1 to 8.8 knots. In some cases avoidance apparently began at 6 or more miles away from the ship. The effect of this behavior on shipboard censusingof dolphins is discussed. In the eastern tropical Pacific, tuna fishermen encircle with purse seine nets schools of certain small cetaceans, mainly spotted and spinner dolphins, Stenella attenuata and S. longirostris, to capture the yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, with which they are associated (Perrin 1969, 1970). The resulting incidental kill of dolphins has led the National Marine Fisheries Service to study the status of these cetacean populations, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Data collected from commercial fishing boats and research vessels are important in determining the distribution and abundance of the dolphins. In the areas of intensive porpoise fishing, dolphins are apparently learning from their experience with nets and fishing vessels. The animals are recaptured with purse seines frequently enough to have possibly learned to position themselves within the net to better facilitate their own release (Pryor and Kang'). More importantly, they may also have developed various behaviors to avoid detection by a fishing vessel and to reduce their chances of capture (Pryor and Kang footnote 2; Stuntz and Perrin3). Dolphin schools, especially of the spotted and spinner dolphin species, commonly swim rapidly away from approaching ships. This behavior is

Environmental Quality and Natural Biota

Public desire for a healthful, pleasing environment makes preservation of environmental quality a recognized objective of national policy. Maintenance of a quality environment depends upon a myriad of complex natural systems composed of more than 200,000 species of plants, animals, and protists (HEW 1969, King et al. 1979). We cannot survive with only our crop and livestock species, but we do not know how many of the 200,000 species native to the United States are absolutely essential to our survival. Natural biota, the nonmanipulated or uncultivated organisms, perform many essential functions for agriculture, forestry, and other segments of human society, such as preventing the accumulation of wastes; cleaning water and soil of pollutants; recycling vital chemical elements within the ecosystem, including biotic nitrogen as fertilizer; buffering air pollutants and moderating climatic change; conserving soil and water; serving as sources of certain medicines, pigments, and spices; preserving genetic material for agriculture; and supplying food via the harvest of fish and other wildlife. In addition to these important ecosystem functions, the natural biota are of great aesthetic value to society. Concern for preserving the natural environment is reflected in recent passage of numerous state and federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. NEPA mandates that national government agencies by concerned with any Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment . .. (Orloff and Brooks 1980). This interest manifests itself in the activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the preparation of environmental impact statements (EIS). On the federal level, EIS preparation is coordinated by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Many state agencies and some locales also are legally directed to prepare similar statements. CEQ has directed that attention be paid to such aspects as the social, economic, physical, and biological effects that proposed environmental manipulations might have. Biological factors have included possible effects on fish and wildlife, plant conservation, and endangered species. No mention is made of microorganisms, pollinators, and many other small species of life, though the general nature of the guidance does not exclude their consideration. If environmental policy is to include all significant of an action, then it should consider the potential impacts on all organisms vital to the total ecosystem. We must assess and understand the ecological role of major species groups, especially in relation to the vitality of the total ecosystem, so that we can identify those that are essential for a viable ecosystem. To make this assessment, we will need all the available, though limited, data concerning the abundance, distribution, and roles of all natural biota. The preliminary survey reported here attempts to ascertain the relative importance of major species groups in the ecosystem and to identify potential human impacts upon these biota. Although this information clearly highlights the need for additional data, it should be helpful to those making policy decisions concerning the priorities accorded to various natural biota that are essential to a quality environment.

Optimal Policies for Conservation of Large Mammals, with Special Reference to Marine Ecosystems

Among the larger mammals, marine types offer some unique insights and problems for management. United States laws require that they be managed ‘to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem.’ The relevant statute (Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972) requires maintenance of an ‘optimal sustainable population’, which is being interpreted as a range between the level giving a maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and asymptotic levels. Emerging evidence pertaining to marine mammals, and perhaps applicable to a larger class of vertebrates, indicates that the MSY point may be well above the logistic-curve 50% point.‘Reproduction curves’ of various sorts are used in management as operational representations of population self-regulation (density-dependence). A variety of theories and hypotheses concerning such regulation now exists, though none is adequately supported as yet. A general model for self-regulation in long-lived species is suggested as being comprised of stages of regulation. Immature mortality is postulated as the first stage, followed by age of first reproduction and then reproductive rates of adult females. The fourth and last stage, as populations reach maximum sustainable levels, is assumed to involve changes in adult survival.Although a model of the kind suggested here offers some useful insights as to harversting strategies, a more quantitative (functional) basis will be needed for actual management applications.

The United States Marine Mammal Protection Act, 1972

The United States Marine Mammal Protection Act, 1972

United States: Marine Mammal Protection Act

United States: Marine Mammal Protection Act