Skip to main content
Duke University Libraries
DukeSpace Scholarship by Duke Authors
  • Login
  • Ask
  • Menu
  • Login
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Search & Find
  • Using the Library
  • Research Support
  • Course Support
  • Libraries
  • About
View Item 
  •   DukeSpace
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
  • View Item
  •   DukeSpace
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STATUS OF THE U.S. MARINE MAMMAL STOCK ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

Thumbnail
View / Download
1.3 Mb
Date
2015-04-24
Author
Wagner, Amy Nicole
Advisor
Nowacek, Dr. Douglas P.
Repository Usage Stats
341
views
325
downloads
Abstract
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) includes a multi-step process for reducing national marine mammal bycatch. This process requires the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to publish annual marine mammal Stock Assessment Reports (SARs), which include best estimates of each stock’s abundance, population trend, maximum rate of increase, potential biological removal (PBR), and ‘annual human-caused mortality and serious injury’. On the basis of these estimates, NMFS determines ‘strategic’ stocks which are most at risk from bycatch. According to the MMPA, a stock should be considered strategic if is: a) Threatened or Endangered under the ESA, or decreasing in abundance and likely to be listed, or b) classified as depleted under the MMPA, or c) experiencing direct human-caused mortality and serious injury at a level which exceeds its PBR. If strategic stocks interact with commercial fisheries that have significant levels of marine mammal bycatch, the agency is required to establish Take Reduction Teams (TRTs), which craft Take Reduction Plans (TRPs). TRPs include measures to reduce the fishery-related mortality of a particular strategic stock, given that the current level of annual human-caused mortality and serious injury exceeds the stock’s PBR. Therefore, without a TRT, the strategic stocks interacting with fisheries that cause either frequent or occasional mortality will continue to remain imperiled because nothing is being done to reduce the unsustainable level of stock mortality. Because NMFS’ status determinations are data-dependent, deficient and/or imprecise stock data hinders the agency’s ability to appropriately determine strategic status. This project assessed the current state of the U.S. marine mammal stock assessment program, with regard to data quality and MMPA compliance, relative to previous assessments by NMFS (2004) and the GAO (2008). The results of this project indicate that previously-identified gaps in stock information and MMPA compliance persist in the 2013 stock assessment reports.
Type
Master's project
Department
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Subject
marine mammal, stock assessment, marine mammal stock assessment program, bycatch mitigation, National Marine Fisheries Service
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9643
Citation
Wagner, Amy Nicole (2015). A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE STATUS OF THE U.S. MARINE MAMMAL STOCK ASSESSMENT PROGRAM. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9643.
Collections
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
More Info
Show full item record
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Rights for Collection: Nicholas School of the Environment


Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info

Make Your Work Available Here

How to Deposit

Browse

All of DukeSpaceCommunities & CollectionsAuthorsTitlesTypesBy Issue DateDepartmentsAffiliations of Duke Author(s)SubjectsBy Submit DateThis CollectionAuthorsTitlesTypesBy Issue DateDepartmentsAffiliations of Duke Author(s)SubjectsBy Submit Date

My Account

LoginRegister

Statistics

View Usage Statistics
Duke University Libraries

Contact Us

411 Chapel Drive
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-5870
Perkins Library Service Desk

Digital Repositories at Duke

  • Report a problem with the repositories
  • About digital repositories at Duke
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Deaccession and DMCA Takedown Policy

TwitterFacebookYouTubeFlickrInstagramBlogs

Sign Up for Our Newsletter
  • Re-use & Attribution / Privacy
  • Harmful Language Statement
  • Support the Libraries
Duke University