Seasonal gray whales in the Pacific northwest : an assessment of optimum sustainable population level for the Pacific Coast Feeding Group

"A small group of gray whales, known as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group, or PCFG spends the summer and autumn along the Pacific coast of North America, where they overlap with the Makah Tribe's Usual and Accus tomed (U&A) fishing grounds off the coast of Washington. In 2005, the Makah requested that NOAA/NMFS waive the MMPA take moratorium and adopt regulations that would authorize the tribe to hunt ENP gray whales within their U&A. As part of its review of this proposed hunt, NMFS continues to evaluate information relevant to ENP stock structure a nd status, including the population dynamics of the PCFG. Assessing whether the PCFG is currently at Optimum Sustainable Population (OSP) (i.e., not depleted) was the objective of the analysis described in this report 1. The assessment is based on modifications to an existing population dynamics model used by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to conduct projections of gray whale abundance. The model is deterministic, age- and sex-structured, and consists of two groups (the 'north' group and the PCFG) , which are assumed to be separate for purposes of the analysis, but with possible immigration between them. Parameter estimation is based on Bayesian methods"--Summary André E. Punt and Jeffrey E. Moore. "July 2013." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references.