The following text contains excerpts from Waring et al. (1994) and Quintal and Smith (1999), two documents that outline marine mammal studies supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center from 1980 to 1995. 

Marine mammals have been important in the northeastern United States historically both as objects of commercial harvests and in ecological interactions with commercial fisheries. There was some scientific attention given to east coast marine mammals as early as 1851 when Matthew Maury of the U.S. Navy's Depot of Charts and Instruments published his whale charts based upon whalers logs and records of sightings. The U.S. Fish Commission gave more attention to marine mammals after its creation in 1871, commissioning for example Starbuck's 1878 "History of the American Whale Fishery." The omnibus series titled "The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the United States" describes fisheries for the great whales and fisheries for smaller whales in the North Atlantic, likely including pilot whales, bottlenose dolphins, and bottlenose whales (Goode, 1884). 

In addition to these direct fisheries, there was also interest in the indirect effects of marine mammals on other fisheries. Goode (1884) described the destructiveness of marine mammals to fisheries, a theme that the U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries Spencer Baird used in 1889 in supporting a fish meal factory to be built in Woods Hole. Baird (1889, p.68) speculated that the 20 tons of predatory "fishes", i.e. porpoises, skates, and dogfish that the proposed factory would process annually "should present a marked influence upon the supply of edible fishes." The interest of the U.S. Fish Commission was primarily in terms of fisheries, and little biological study appears to have been done of marine mammals in this region beyond the taxonomic studies of Frederick True (1885), as for example when he provided written instructions to the lighthouse keepers on "the best means of collecting and preserving specimens of whales and porpoises."

With the declining importance of the U.S. harvests of east coast species of marine mammals in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the incentive for systematic scientific study of the species inhabiting the northeastern U.S. declined. In the 1930s and 1940s, Remmington Kelloge at the Smithsonian and William Schevill at Harvard undertook taxonomic studies, but it wasn't until the late 1940s that cetacean biology began to be investigated more systematically. Then Schevill began a series of investigations of cetacean acoustics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution that are still continuing. In the early 1970s, several other researchers began studying marine mammals in this region. The results of this earlier work was addressed in 1979 when the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission sponsored a workshop to help define research needed for the study of marine mammals on the east and gulf coasts of the U.S. (Prescott et al., 1980). More than 50 participants from governmental agencies, scientific institutions, and independent research programs identified more than 28 scientific institutions with ongoing studies of marine mammals. These research efforts had resulted in substantial knowledge of the species inhabiting the region, and summaries of available information were presented for 22 cetaceans and 2 pinniped species. 

Shortly after the workshop two major marine mammal research programs were begun, one a three year program at the University of Rhode Island sponsored by the Minerals Management Service (Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program (CeTAP)) and the other a decade long program of contract studies sponsored by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). The two research programs are in marked contrast, with CeTAP being relatively short and focused very tightly on determining distribution and abundance and the NEFSC program being much broader in scope and funded on a continuing basis. CeTAP resulted in an omnibus volume reporting a series of aerial sighting surveys covering the area from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia, giving seasonal distribution patterns and estimates of numbers of animals based on line transect methods (CeTAP, 1982). The NEFSC program has resulted in a long series of more modest research projects primarily in the form of small contract studies which, taken as a whole, document aspects of the distribution, ecological relationships, and human interactions for marine mammals in the region.

The direction and form of the NMFS research program was adjusted over the decade in response to the results of the funded projects, the results of other projects on marine mammals and commercial fisheries, additional planning workshops, and to a considerable degree, the personal interests of scientists who proposed interesting research topics. This program was markedly expanded in 1990 in response to information needs mandated by the 1988 amendment to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

NMFS marine mammal research activity during the first half of the 1990s was substantially broader and more intensive than that in the 1980s. The focus and conduct of this research effort began to change following the 1988 amendment to the U.S. MMPA. Increased funds became available, and NMFS staff became increasingly involved in both contracted and in-house research activities. In 1990, the Marine Mammal Investigation was formed within the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) of NMFS. Initially the Investigation included 5 members, but by 1995 it had expanded to a staff of 10 and was renamed the Protected Species Branch (PSB). In addition, the need for information on bycatch of marine mammals in fishing gear resulted in the expansion of a program placing observers aboard fishing vessels. This was conducted as part of a more general program within the NEFSC by a separate unit, the Sea Sampling Investigation, beginning in 1989. 

The research effort shifted again following the 1994 reauthorization of the MMPA, as increased emphasis began to be placed on information needed to implement the specific management approaches defined there. Stock assessments for all marine mammal populations in the region were completed (Blaylock et al. 1995) as required under the 1994 Reauthorization of the MMPA. In addition, the PSB became increasingly involved in the work of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), especially in areas of expertise initially developed to address domestic research needs.




REFERENCES:

BAIRD, S. 1889. The sea fisheries of eastern North America. Rept. U.S. Fish. Comm. Vol. 14.

 

BLAYLOCK, R.A., J.W. HAIN, L.J. HANSEN, D.L. PALKA AND G.T. WARING. 1995. U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico marine mammal assessments. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-363. 211p. Southeast Fisheries Science Center, 75 Virginia Beach Dr., Miami, FL 33149-1003.

 

CETAP. 1982. A characterization of marine mammals and turtles in the mid- and North Atlantic areas of the U.S. outer continental shelf. Final Rep. AA551-CT8-48 of Cetacean and Turtle Assessment Program (CeTAP) to Bur. Land. Manage., U.S. Dep. Int., Wash., DC. 538 p.

 

GOODE, G.B. 1884. Fish and fishing industries. REPT. U.S. FISH COMMISSION.

 

PRESCOTT, J.H., S.D. KRAUS, and J.R. GILBERT. 1980. East Coast/Gulf Coast cetacean and pinniped research Workshop. Marine Mammal Commission Report No. 79/02.

 

QUINTAL, J.M. AND T.D. SMITH. 1999. Marine mammal research program of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center during 1990-1995. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NE-120.  28p. Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water St., Woods Hole, MA 02543.

 

STARBUCK. 1878. History of the American whale fishery from its earliest inception to the year 1876. Rept. U.S. Fish. Comm. 4:1-782.

 

TRUE, F.W. 1885. Suggestions to keepers of the U.S. life-saving stations, light-houses, and light-ships; and to other observers, relative to the best means of collection and preserving specimens of whales and porpoises. REPT. U.S. FISH. COMMN. for 1885, 26 pp.

 

WARING, G.T., J.M. QUINTAL, T.D. SMITH. 1994. Marine mammal studies supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center during 1980-89. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/NEC-103. 27p. Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water St., Woods Hole, MA 02543.