Decline of the steller sea lions in Alaskan waters : untangling food webs and fishing nets / Committee on the Alaska Groundfish Fishery and Steller Sea Lions, Ocean Studies Board, Polar Research Board, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Alaska Groundfish Fishery and Steller Sea Lions.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sea lions--Alaska.

Sea lions.

Fisheries--Alaska.

Fisheries.

Animal populations.

Food chains (Ecology).

Fishing nets--Environmental aspects--Alaska.

Fishing nets.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For an unknown reason, the Steller sea lion population in Alaska has declined by 80% over the past three decades. In 2001, the National Research Council began a study to assess the many hypotheses proposed to explain the sea lion decline including insufficient food due to fishing or the late 1970s climate/regime shift, a disease epidemic, pollution, illegal shooting, subsistence harvest, and predation by killer whales or sharks. The report's analysis indicates that the population decline cannot be explained only by a decreased availability of food; hence other factors, such as predation and illegal shooting, deserve further study. The report recommends a management strategy that could help determine the impact of fisheries on sea lion survival -- establishing open and closed fishing areas around sea lion rookeries. This strategy would allow researchers to study sea lions in relatively controlled, contrasting environments. Experimental area closures will help fill some short-term data gaps, but long-term monitoring will be required to understand why sea lions are at a fraction of their former abundance.

Contents:

Front Matterr

Preface

Acknowledgments

Contents

Executive Summary

1 Introduction

2 The Environmental Setting

3 Identifying Clues and Testing Hypotheses

4 Review of Steller Sea Lion Biology

5 Fisheries

6 Steller Sea Lion Decline: Environmental Context and Compendium of Evidence

7 Information Needs and Recommendations

References

APPENDIX A Committee and Staff Biographies

APPENDIX B Acronyms

APPENDIX C Glossary

APPENDIX D Early Account of Steller Sea Lions

APPENDIX E Federal Funding Summary

APPENDIX F Meeting Agendas

APPENDIX G National Research Council Project Oversight Boards

APPENDIX H Guide to the Common and Scientific Names of Marine Mammal, Fish, Invertebrate, and Bird Species.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9786610209408

9780309168724

0309168724

9781280209406

1280209402

9780309512534

0309512530

OCLC:

56119860