| More than two decades after the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the status of many marine mammal populations is fragile or uncertain. Marine mammal recovery programs face many complex pressures. In addition to often vast uncertainty concerning species' biology and ecology, programmatic pressures include social, values-related, organizational, legal, and other forces that influence the behavior of practitioners in the agencies and organizations responsible for the species' recovery. These forces include both internal pressures, concerning leadership dynamics, communication, organizational culture, and others, as well as external forces such as interactions with conservation organizations, industry groups, the media, federal and state legislators, and the judiciary. Recovery practitioners often do not have the time, funds, staff, or skills necessary to undertake evaluations that would result in information of this nature. When evaluation is undertaken it is often limited to the biological and technical aspects of recovery and not the social, values related, organizational, and other factors that influence the policy process.; In this study I describe and analyze decision making in five marine mammal recovery programs in the United States: those for the California sea otter, Florida manatee, Hawaiian monk seal, Steller sea lion, and North Atlantic right whale. My objectives are to identify, describe, and analyze the principal forces that influence the marine mammal recovery policy process and its outcomes. Toward these goals, I interviewed practitioners in government agencies and non-governmental organizations, collecting data on the forces that influence their decision making behavior and interactions with other participants in the recovery programs.; The results of the study indicate that evaluation of non-biophysical forces seldom occurs in marine mammal recovery programs, but that these forces often have a substantive effect on decision making behavior and participant interactions. Building on the findings of the five case studies, I make recommendations for improving decision making behavior in each case, and conclude with a summary of lessons culled from the cases and a suggested approach to improving awareness among program participants of variables that have a direct effect on decision making and participant interactions. |
