Report. Workshop on Research Needs for the Conservation and Management of Cetaceans in the Pacific Islands Region

Abstract

More than 20 cetacean species are known to exist in the Pacific Islands Region, which encompasses the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ (waters out to 370 km from shore) around the entire Hawaiian Archipelago. Johnston Atoll. Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll. Baker and Howland Islands. Jarvis Island. American Samoa. Wake Island, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, totaling some 5.8 million km2 of ocean. Many of the species present are poorly studied throughout their range and virtually unstudied in large portions of the Pacific Islands Region. NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries Service. NMFS). a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has lead-agency responsibility for cetaceans under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Heretofore, the agency's Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) in La Jolla. California, and the NMFS regional office in Long Beach. California, were responsible for conducting management-related research and providing cetacean stock assessments throughout all U.S. waters of the temperate and tropical Pacific Ocean. Establishment of the Pacific Islands Region within NMFS in April 2003 initiated the devolution of those responsibilities within the region to the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) and Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) in Honolulu. Hawaii. It was expected that the transition of the research component from SWFSC to PIFSC would be gradual and that collaborative work between the two centers would continue for a considerable time into the future.