NOAAs Commitment to Marine Mammal Science and Conservation

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NOAAs Commitment to Marine Mammal Science and
Conservation

• VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. USN (Ret.)
• Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
  AtmosphereNOAA Administrator
• December 3, 2007

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NOAAs Role

• NOAAs Vision
• An informed society that uses a comprehensive
  understanding of the role of the oceans, coasts
  and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make
  the best social and economic decisions
• NOAAs Mission
• To understand and predict changes in the Earths
  environment and conserve and manage coastal and
  marine resources to meet our nations economic,
  social and environmental needs

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MMPA/ESASimilarities

• Split responsibilities FWS/NMFS
• General prohibition on take/importation
• Takes Death, injury, harassment
• Findings/determinations to authorize take
• Burden of proof
• Status reviews
• Recovery plans and efforts
• International provisions

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MMPA/ESADifferences

• ESA
• Any plant or animal
• Threatened or endangered status
• Jeopardy standard - Consultation
• Critical habitat/adverse modification

• MMPA
• Only marine mammals
• Protected regardless of status
• Negligible impact standard

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NOAAs Science

• NOAAs research provides valuable data on marine
  mammals and their environment
• Ocean Observing Systems provide information on
• Environmental Baseline
• Population Abundance and Trends
• Identify Potential Threats
• Quantify Uncertainty and Risk

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NOAA Ocean Observing Systems used to assess
habitat use by ESA-listed Southern Resident
Killer Whales
The combination of NOAA research vessel based
surveys and deployment of Passive Acoustic
Recorders as part of NOAAs Ocean Observing
Systems has significantly increased our
understanding of the distribution and movements
of southern resident killer whales during the
winter/spring
Vancouver Island
Visual monitoring and acoustic surveys using
towed hydrophone arrays conducted on NOAA
Research Vessels along the Pacific west coast
Acoustic recorder detection?
Washington State
Pacific Ocean
Acoustic recorder detections?
Vessel Survey detection ?
Vessel surveys and acoustic recorder detections
show the importance of coastal Washington waters
to southern resident killer whales
Passive Acoustic Recorders were deployed off the
Washington coast during winter and spring months
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SPLASHOcean-basin Study
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Old Threats Continue New Threats Emerge
Bycatch
Ocean Noise
Ship Strikes
Marine Debris
Disease Toxins
Climate Change
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Marine Mammal Fisheries Bycatch
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Anthropogenic Noise
By applying acoustic tags on individual animals,
researchers can compare baseline behavior with
responses to various sound exposures to determine
effects
NOAAs Ocean Acoustics Program and academic
researcher partners, in conjunction with the U.S.
DOD, are conducting a multi-phased Behavioral
Response Study at a sophisticated U.S. Navys
listening range in the Bahamas
Phase I (BRS-07) was completed in Aug-Sept 2007,
resulting in 10 total tag deployments with many
data on baseline diving behavior, as well as
sound playback experiments on two pilot whales
and a beaked whale
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Ship Strikes

• Major source of mortality for large whales,
  including right whales
• Aerial surveys to alert mariners about whales
  locations
• Boston traffic lanes realigned to move out of
  whale high density areas
• Area To Be Avoided proposal to be submitted to
  IMO
• Proposed regulations to reduce vessel speeds
• Continue with mariner education and outreach

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Marine Debris

• The impacts of marine debris, especially derelict
  fishing gear, are extensive and often lethal.
• Habitat Destruction
• Entanglement
• Invasive Species
• Maintenance Removal Closing the gap between
  estimated annual accumulation rate and
  collection.
• At Sea Detection and Removal
• Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to target
  efforts.
• U.S. Government Marine Debris Initiative

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Disease and Toxins

• Incidences of major disease outbreaks are
  increasing, for unknown reasons, and with effects
  that are not completely understood.
• Harmful algal blooms
• Pollutants

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Global Climate Change
Loss of Sea Ice
Sea Level Rise
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Management ChallengesFully Recovered vs.
Critically Endangered
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Moving forward

• Global threats require
• Multidisciplinary approach
• International cooperation
• Education is key
• General Public
• Next generation of scientists and managers

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Thank you!

• Thanks to the Society for Marine Mammalogy for
  its contributions to promote the educational,
  scientific and managerial advancement of marine
  mammal science.
• NOAA is strong supporter of the work of the
  Society and is proud to be sponsor of this
  conference.