Dan Hull, Chairman
David Witherell, Executive Director
SUBJECT: title
B8 - Protected Species Report
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STAFF CONTACT: Steve MacLean
ACTION REQUIRED: recommended action
Review Protected Species report, action as necessary
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BACKGROUND:
Steller sea lions
On June 1, 2015, NOAA Fisheries received a report of dead sea lions on a remote beach near Softuk Bar, about 45 miles southeast of Cordova. On June 2, 2015, NOAA biologists and enforcement agents visited the site and found 15 dead Steller sea lions. Signs suggested that the sea lions had been deliberately killed. On April 12, 2018, Jon Nichols and Theodore Turgeon were charged with using a shotgun to harass and kill the Steller sea lions. Nichols was captain of the F/V Iron Hide, Turgeon was a deckhand aboard the vessel. Charging documents state that Nichols instructed his crew to use the shotgun to shoot Steller sea lions as the boat traveled to the mouth of the Copper River fishing district between May and June 2015. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, the men removed the shotgun from the vessel after learning they were under investigation and coordinated false stories among crew members, and Nichols tried to obstruct a grand jury investigation by attempting to influence crew members to provide false information. The charges include conspiracy, violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act, obstruction of a Marine Mammal Protection Act investigation, false statements, and obstruction.
North Pacific right whale
NMFS completed the 5-year review of the North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) in December 2017. Section 4(c)(2) of the Endangered Species Act requires, at least once every five years, a review of all threatened and endangered species to determine if they should be removed from the list of threatened or endangered species or changed in their listing status. The Northern right whale was listed as Endangered in 19701. In 2008 the Pacific and Atlantic spe...
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