NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service today announced that it is seeking public comments by Thursday, March 4 on draft 2020 marine mammal stock assessment reports (SAR’s) for marine mammals in the Atlantic (includes Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. territories in the Caribbean), Alaska, and Pacific regions. NMFS also seeks new information for strategic stocks that were not updated in 2020.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act requires NMFS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare stock assessment reports for each stock of marine mammals occurring in waters under the jurisdiction of the United States, and mandates that they be revised if the status of the stock changes or can be more accurately determined.
Information in the stock assessment reports is used to identify and evaluate the status of marine mammal populations and the effects of human activities on them, authorize the taking of marine mammals incidental to human activities, develop and implement conservation measures, and evaluate fishery progress in reducing incidental mortality and serious injury to insignificant levels.
