Endangered Species Act Section 7 Biological Opinion: Issuance of Annual Quotas Authorizing the Harvest of Bowhead Whales to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission for the Period 2008 through 2012

This opinion considers the effects of this action on threatened and endangered species under the jurisdiction of NOAA Fisheries. In formulating this Biological Opinion, NOAA Fisheries used information presented in the 2007 Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Issuing Annual Quotas to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission for a Subsistence Hunt on Bowhead Whales for the Years 2008 Through 2012, reports from the International Whaling Commission, its Scientific Committee and its Subcommittee on Aboriginal Whaling, along with other research relating to bowhead whales and information provided by NOAA=s National Marine Mammal Laboratory, the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, and the traditional knowledge of the Alaskan Eskimo community.