75236 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 240 / Thursday, December 14, 2006 / Notices 

the current criteria. An emphasis on 

considering mortalities in the current 

criteria may also delay a response that 

could be crucial to identify causal 

factors. Elevating the importance of 

‘‘morbidity’’ could initiate consideration 

of an UME sooner, and improve the 

effectiveness of a subsequent 

investigation. Therefore, the UME 

criteria have been revised as follows: 

(1) A marked increase in the 

magnitude or a marked change in the 

nature of morbidity, mortality or 

strandings when compared with prior 

records. 

(2) A temporal change in morbidity, 

mortality or strandings is occurring. 

(3) A spatial change in morbidity, 

mortality or strandings is occurring. 

(4) The species, age, or sex 

composition of the affected animals is 

different than that of animals that are 

normally affected. 

(5) Affected animals exhibit similar or 

unusual pathologic findings, behavior 

patterns, clinical signs, or general 

physical condition (e.g., blubber 

thickness). 

(6) Potentially significant morbidity, 

mortality or stranding is observed in 

species, stocks or populations that are 

particularly vulnerable (e.g., listed as 

depleted, threatened or endangered or 

declining). For example, stranding of 

three or four right whales may be cause 

for great concern whereas stranding of a 

similar number of fin whales may not. 

(7) Morbidity is observed concurrent 

with or as part of an unexplained 

continual decline of a marine mammal 

population, stock, or species. 

As with the original criteria, the 

Working Group considers whether a 

single criterion or combination of the 

revised criteria may indicate the 

occurrence of an UME. The Working 

Group agreed to use the revised criteria 

on a pilot basis beginning in July 2004 

and evaluate their utility after applying 

them to several consultation requests 

throughout 2005 and 2006. The Working 

Group has since determined that the 

revised criteria have been more 

applicable to current stranding events 

than the original criteria and has voted 

to adopt them as the new official UME 

criteria to be used for all future 

consultations (or until such time when 

they are reevaluated and revised again). 

Additional information on the 

MMHSRP and UME program, including 

frequent updates, can be found on the 

Internet at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ 

pr/health/ 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. 

References 

Dierauf, L.A. and F.M.D. Gulland. 2001. 

Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality 

Events. In: L.A.Dierauf and F.M.D. 

Gulland (Eds.), Handbook of Marine 

Mammal Medicine. CRC Press, Boca 

Raton, Florida. Pgs. 69–81. 

Geraci, J.R., J.H. Harwood and V.J. 

Lounsbury. 1999. Marine Mammal DieOffs: Causes, Investigations, and Issues. 

In: J.R. Twiss, Jr. and R.R. Reeves (Eds.), 

Conservation and Management of 

Marine Mammals. Smithsonian 

Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Pgs. 

367–395. 

Geraci, J.R. and V.J. Lounsbury. 2005. 

Marine Mammals Ashore: A Field Guide 

for Strandings, Second Edition. National 

Aquarium in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. 

371 pp. 

Gulland, F.M.D. 2006. Review of the 

Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality 

Event Response Program of the National 

Marine Fisheries Service. Report to the 

Office of Protected Resources, NOAA/ 

National Marine Fisheries Service, 

Silver Spring, MD. 32 pp. 

Reddy, M.L., L.A. Dierauf and F.M.D. 

Gulland. 2001. Marine Mammals as 

Sentinels of Ocean 

Health. In: L.A. Dierauf and F.M.D. 

Gulland (Eds.), Handbook of Marine 

Mammal Medicine. CRC Press, Boca 

Raton, Florida. Pgs. 3–13. 

Wells, R.S., H.L. Rhinehart, L.J. Hansen, 

J.C. Sweeney, F.I. Townsend, R. Stone, 

D.R. Casper, M.D. Scott, A.A. Hohn and 

T.K. Rowles. 2004. Bottlenose dolphins 

as marine ecosystem sentinels: 

Developing a health monitoring system. 

EcoHealth, 1: 246–254. 

Wilkinson, D.M. 1996. National 

Contingency Plan for Response to 

Unusual Marine Mammal Mortality 

Events. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFSOPR–9. 118 pp. 

Dated: December 8, 2006. 

James H. Lecky, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E6–21300 Filed 12–13–06; 8:45 am] 

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