Environmental Assessments: Co-Management Agreements Between the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council
August 30, 2006
Environmental assessments for Cook Inlet beluga whale cooperative management agreements between the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council and NOAA Fisheries for the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005.
NOAA Fisheries entered into annual co-management agreements with the Cook Inlet Marine Mammal Council. The co-management agreements specify the conditions, and the number of strikes allowed, under which a subsistence harvest on Cook Inlet beluga whales could be undertaken.
Federal authority to enter into a co-management agreement derives from Public Law 106-553, which prohibits the hunting of Cook Inlet beluga whales except pursuant to a cooperative agreement between NOAA Fisheries and Alaska Native Organizations and section 199 of the MMPA , which allows the secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with ANOs to conserve marine mammals and provide co-management of subsistence use by Alaska Natives.
Environmental Assessment for the 2000 Agreement
Environmental Assessment for the 2001 Agreement