Marine Mammal Draft Stock Assessment Reports Available

Notice of Availability of Draft Stock Assessment Reports

NMFS reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. SARs for marine mammals in the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new information. NMFS solicits public comments on draft 2009 SARs.
Comments must be received by September 24, 2009.

Fifty-two new or updated reports (16 strategic and 36 non-strategic) are included among 2009 Atlantic regional SARs. Nineteen reports were not revised. New reports include four stock-specific reports for beaked whales and nine new reports of bay, sound, and estuary stocks of bottlenose dolphins along the Atlantic coast. The 39 revised reports included updates of abundance or mortality estimates, strandings, and status of these stocks was unchanged. However,
Potential Biological Removal (PBR) estimates for three stocks of dolphins (bottlenose, Atlantic spotted, and rough-toothed) in the Gulf of Mexico were changed to ``undetermined'' because the abundance data supporting these estimates are outdated (more than 8 years old).

Read the full announcement in the Federal Register here.