Honolulu, Hawaii -- U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie today marked the beginning of an annual humpback whale-counting project by announcing new legislation creating a national research program to focus on the effects of human-related actions — such as pollution and use of sonar— on marine mammals in the world’s oceans.

“We in Hawaii have come to appreciate the importance of the endangered humpback whale and the other species of marine mammals in our waters,” said Abercrombie, a member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee and its Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife & Oceans, who introduced the bill before returning to Hawaii this weekend. “It’s only fitting that the impetus for a national research program of this kind should come from Hawaii—the home of a national marine sanctuary for humpback whales.”

Scientists estimate that two-thirds of the entire North Pacific humpback whale population (approximately 4,000 to 5,000 whales) migrate to Hawaiian waters each year to breed, calve and nurse their young. It’s also the only place in U.S. coastal waters where humpbacks reproduce. Each winter, the whales migrate to Hawaii for breeding, calving, and nursing of their young.

Abercrombie joined volunteers on the slopes of Diamond Head for the first day of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary’s “Ocean Count,” organized annually to record the number of humpback whales sighted from various points around Hawaii and provide the sanctuary with important information on humpback whale population and distribution.

“Expanded and focused research is critical so we can obtain real, hard scientific evidence that will truly help us understand the effects of activities by humankind on all marine mammals such as the humpback whale which is very special to our state,” said Abercrombie. “Through this legislation, we will be able to learn much more about the effects of fishing nets, pollution, disease, environmental changes, sonar, and other threats on marine mammals. Sound science will then help us to develop conservation measures to enable humankind to coexist with marine mammals.”

“We have been spending substantially on the exploration of space and not enough on inner space which is vital to our complete understanding of the universe and the preservation of its threatened and endangered species, particularly in our oceans.”

Abercrombie’s bill (HR 5106) would establish the National Marine Mammal Research Program, with $25 million in annual funding to coordinate and strengthen scientific research into natural and human-related factors affecting the health of marine mammals and their habitats. The program would be administered by the Marine Mammal Commission, an independent federal agency.

“This bill will lead to the development and implementation of a comprehensive five-year national research plan to give us answers.”