[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
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Total.................................................... 41
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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
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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]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
