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photographs are being analyzed by Fish and Wildlife Service 

 biologists to better determine the extent of damage and rate 

 of recovery to kelp canopies affected by last winter's 

 storms. The results of these assessments will be used to 

 help plan and design the coordinated aerial/ground census 

 now expected to be conducted in the spring or early summer 

 of 1984. 



Observations of Gill and Trammel Net Fisheries in and near 

 Morro Bay, California 

 (J. B. Bishop) 



Observations made by California Department of Fish and 

 Game personnel and others in 1982 suggested that entanglement 

 in gill and trammel nets might be a significant cause of 

 mortality of sea otters and other marine mammals in certain 

 coastal areas of California. Since the Department was 

 unable to continue its observations beyond the spring of 

 1983, the Commission consulted with the Department, the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service, and other interested parties, and 

 contracted with the investigator to continue periodic 

 observations of gill and trammel net fisheries in and near 

 Morro Bay. From May through December 1983, the contractor 

 documented an incidental take of three sea otters, thirteen 

 harbor seals, four harbor porpoise, and seventeen California 

 sea lions in an observed sample of set nets in the study 

 area. The sample suggests that substantially larger numbers 

 of sea otters and other marine mammals are being taken 

 incidentally in the fisheries than had been earlier believed, 

 and the Commission has provided additional funding to continue 

 the observations through August 1984. 



Observations of Gill and Trammel Net Fisheries in and near 

 Monterey Bay, California 

 (T. M. Keating and D. Croll, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories) 



The investigators began a study of the incidental 

 entanglement of marine mammals and diving sea birds in 

 bottom gill nets in Monterey Bay in 1981. Late in 1982, 

 fishing activities expanded beyond the confines of the Bay 

 to areas south of Monterey and north of Santa Cruz, but the 

 investigators were not able to continue their observations 

 outside the Bay because of the inadequate size of their 

 vessel. To resolve this dilemma, the Commission chartered 

 the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories' research vessel to 

 provide for periodic monitoring of gill and trammel net 

 fisheries north and south of Monterey Bay once a week for a 

 three-month period. The results of this study and the study 



