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The DIP delineation handbook: a guide to using multiple lines of evidence to delineate demographically independent populations of marine mammals
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2019
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Description:One of the primary directives of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) is to use the best scientific information available to delineate population stocks (henceforth referred to as stocks) and prepare stock assessment reports (SARs) for all marine mammals in U.S. territorial waters.In this handbook, we discuss the use of multiple lines of evidence (LoEs) to delineate DIPs of marine mammals, which can subsequently be designated as stocks under the MMPA. We first review the stock concept under the MMPA and document the rationale for equating stocks to DIPs. We review the different types of data currently available for inferring population structure and provide an assessment of the utility of each data type for inferring demographic independence. The MMPA directs NMFS to use the ‘best scientific information available’ to assess stocks. Because the availability and utility of different LoEs varies among species, stock delineation can and will be based on different LoEs in order to meet the MMPA directives. We therefore summarize the data that are available for the currently designated stocks and document some of the factors that limit our ability to collect robust data sets for certain groups of species.
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Rights Information:Public Domain
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Compliance:Submitted
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[PDF-2.04 MB]
