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by distributing posters, brochures, and other educational 

 material to the fishing industries involved in the North 

 Pacific. They also tried, in some areas, to clear beaches 

 of debris considered dangerous to fur seals and other marine 

 life. 



By 1982, however, it was apparent that these efforts 

 had not diminished the rate of fur seal entanglement and 

 that the impact of entanglement was more serious than had 

 been realized. As described in the Commission's previous 

 Annual Report, a data analysis carried out in preparation 

 for the April 1982 meeting of the Fur Seal Commission indicated 

 that entanglement of fur seals may be a far more significant 

 mortality factor than had been previously believed and was 

 possibly a primary cause of the ongoing decline in the North 

 Pacific fur seal population. It was estimated at that time 

 that the annual mortality rate due to entanglement might be 

 more than five percent of the population as a whole. 



The Marine Mammal Commission, gravely concerned by 

 these estimates, participated in the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service's preparations for the April 1982 meeting of the Fur 

 Seal Commission and prepared a U.S. position paper on the 

 entanglement issue. Throughout 1982 and 1983, the Commission 

 worked with the Service, the Department of State, and others 

 to encourage the Parties to the North Pacific Fur Seal 

 Commission to take all possible steps to assess and eliminate 

 the entanglement problem. These activities are described in 

 detail in Chapter III of this Report. 



The Entanglement Workshop -- In August 1982, at the 

 request of the Commission, a review of several marine 

 mammal programs being conducted by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service was held at the Southwest Fisheries Center. 

 At that meeting, Service scientists reviewed documented 

 reports of Hawaiian monk seal entanglement in fishing gear, 

 and, on the basis of these and other observations, it was 

 agreed that entanglement in lost or discarded fishing gear 

 could be a cause of substantial monk seal mortality as 

 well. The net entanglement problem also was raised in other 

 contexts during the two-day program review, and participants 

 concluded that it would be of value to promptly convene an 

 entanglement workshop to address the issue, and the Service 

 offered to proceed with planning such a workshop. 



After further discussion, the Commission wrote to the 

 Service's Southwest Regional Office on 22 September 1982 

 expressing its support of the approach being taken by the 



