Co-Management of Subsistence use of Pacific Walrus

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 intends to award a single source financial assistance agreement as authorized by 505 DM 2.14 (B) to Kawerak-Eskimo Walrus Commission. This notice is not a request for proposals and the Government does not intend to accept proposals. Award will be made 15 days after this notice. Section 119 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, allows the Secretary of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements with Alaska Native organizations to conserve marine mammals and provide co-management of subsistence use by Alaska Natives. Agreements entered into under this section may include grants to Alaska Native organizations for, among other purposes 1. collecting and analyzing data on marine mammal populations, 2. monitoring the harvest of marine mammals for subsistence use, 3. participating in marine mammal research conducted by the Federal Government, States, academic institutions, and private organizations, and 4. developing marine mammal co-management structures with Federal and State agencies. This cooperative agreement will provide for continued implementation of a long standing co-management relationship between the Service and the Commission for the conservation and co-management of subsistence use of Pacific walrus as authorized under Section 119 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The purpose of this Cooperative Agreement between the Service and the Eskimo Walrus Commission is to: 1. conserve Pacific walrus in Alaska: 2. encourage co-management of subsistence uses of Pacific Walrus by the involvement of subsistence users through the Commission, 3. Provide the Commission, with information on walrus population, status, and trends for the development of sound management practices integral to fulfilling their mission of representing the interests of subsistence users and Eskimo walrus hunters, and, 4. provide the Service with information for the monitoring of walrus population, status, and trends to fulfill its species oversight responsibilities. The objectives of this Agreement are to provide support and assistance to continue co-management activities with the Service for the conservation and co-management of subsistence use of Pacific walrus.