D. Long-term monitoring (at regular intervals)
II. =Whales= (distribution, abundance, movements, activity patterns, vocalization patterns, cow/calf ratios)
III. =Boat/Planes= (abundance, type, distribution, movements, activities)
[NOAA Letterhead--Cut off] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
Mr. John Chapman Superintendent Glacier Bay National Monument National Park Service P.O. Box 1089 Juneau, Alaska 99802
This letter responds to your August 4, 1979, request for consultation pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, relative to the population of the humpback whale in Glacier Bay, Alaska.
Your problem statement of the same date outlines the basic issue of human activity in Glacier Bay National Monument that might be affecting humpback whales. Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act requires that each federal agency insure that its actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat of such species. The consultation process requires our comment and opinion on the problem.
Within this context, our response addresses those National Park Service (NPS) actions controlling human activity that may, in turn, affect the humpback whales within Glacier Bay.
In the North Pacific, the summer range of the humpback whale encompasses the area from Bering Strait south to the Subarctic Boundary (ca. 40° N lat) and extends in the east to about Point Conception, California, and the Sanriku Coast of Honshu Island in the west. Humpbacks range into shallow coastal waters more frequently than do most other balaenopterids and regularly occur in sheltered inside waters of Prince William Sound and the Alexander Archipelago of southeastern Alaska.
The wintering grounds of humpbacks in the North Pacific are centered in three areas: (1) the coast and adjacent islands of west-central Mexico; (2) the main Hawaiian Islands; and (3) the Bonin, Ryukyu, and Mariana Islands in the western North Pacific. Some humpbacks that summer in southeastern Alaska are known to migrate to both the Mexican and Hawaiian wintering grounds, although others are found in southeastern Alaska during all months of the year.