"On April 30, 1994, Public Law 103-238 was enacted allowing significant changes to provisions within the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Interactions between marine mammals and commercial fisheries are addressed under three new sections. This new regime replaced the interim exemption that has regulated fisheriesrelated incidental takes since 1988. Section 117, Stock Assessments, required the establishment of three regional scientific review groups to advise and report on the status of marine mammal stocks within Alaska waters, along the Pacific Coast (including Hawaii), and the Atlantic Coast (including the Gulf of Mexico). This report provides information on the marine mammal stocks of Alaska under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service"--Preface. [doi:10.7289/V5/TM-AFSC-110 (https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-AFSC-110)]

The National Marine Fisheries Service (l\rNßS) conducted an aerial survey of the beluga whale population in Cook Inlet, Alaska, during 8-14 June 1999. The 41.5 hr surveywas flown in a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft at an altitude of 244 m (800 ft) and speed of 185 km/hr (100 kt) along a trackline 1.4 km from shore, consistent with annual surveys flown each year since 1993. The flights in 1999 included one or more surveys of coastal areas around nearly the entire Inlet and 1,790 km oftransects across the Inlet. Paired, independent observers searched on the coastal (left) side of the plane, where virtually all sightings occur, while a single observer and a computer operatorldatarecorder were on the right side. In addition, each day a different visitor observed from the left side. After finding beluga groups, a series of aerial passes were made to allow at least two pairs of primary observers to make four or more counts of each group. Inter-day counts ranged from 75 to160 belugas near the Susitna River (between the Beluga and Little Susitna Rivers), 13 to 43 in Knik Arm, and 17 to 30 in Chickaloon Bay, but no belugas were found in lower Cook Inlet. The sum of the aerial estimates (using median counts from each site, not corrected for missed whales) ranged from 197 to 221 whales, depending on observer. The index count for 1999 is 217 , which is slightly higher than the index counts for 1998 (193) but lower than all index counts by NMFS observers between 1993-97

"On April 30, 1994, Public Law 103-238 was enacted allowing significant changes to provisions within the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Interactions between marine mammals and commercial fisheries are addressed under three new sections. This new regime replaced the interim exemption that has regulated fisheries-related incidental takes since 1988. Section 117, Stock Assessments, required the establishment of three regional scientific review groups to advise and report on the status of marine mammal stocks within Alaska waters, along the Pacific Coast (including Hawaii), and the Atlantic Coast (including the Gulf of Mexico). This report provides information on the marine mammal stocks of Alaska under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service"--Preface. [doi:10.7289/V5/TM-AFSC-78 (https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/TM-AFSC-78)]