except sea otters, taken for subsistence purposes; oppose 

 proposed regulatory authority of the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 over Native take of marine mammals; amend the Act to allow 

 Native people to alter the skins and other parts of tradition- 

 ally harvested marine mammals for uses "which more nearly 

 represent the best and most economical use of such mammals" 

 nowadays; oppose the current definition of "depleted species" 

 and instead develop a more comprehensive data base using bio- 

 logical and user-group knowledge to determine when a species 

 is depleted; and support village regulation of sea otter taking 

 until such time as a sea otter commission is established. At 

 year's end, leaders of the Native community were considering 

 these resolutions and other information as they prepared to 

 develop, in early 1988, positions on reauthorization of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



Federal Marking and Tagging Regulations 



In 1981, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was amended to 

 provide the Fish and Wildlife Service with authority to promul- 

 gate regulations requiring the marking, tagging, and reporting 

 of marine mammals taken by Alaska Natives. The purpose of 

 the amendment was to make it possible to obtain better infor- 

 mation on the numbers of marine mammals taken for subsistence 

 and handicraft purposes. On 3 December 1985, the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service published proposed marking and tagging regu- 

 lations to implement the new statutory requirement. During 

 the comment period, 32 public meetings were held throughout 

 Alaska to discuss the proposed regulations and to solicit 

 comments from affected individuals and interested parties. 



By letter of 3 March 1986, the Commission, in consultation 

 with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, recommended that 

 the regulations be adopted, subject to certain modifications. 

 Among other changes, the Commission recommended that: (a) the 

 data obtained as a result of the regulations should be sum- 

 marized each year in the annual report which the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service submits to Congress under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act; (b) the penalty provisions of the regulations 

 should apply to the transport and export of unregistered marine 

 mammal parts; and (c) a cost-effective, administratively 

 flexible approach should be established for designating the 

 villages where authorized Service representatives would be 

 stationed for marking, tagging, and reporting purposes. 



While final regulations had not been published by the 

 end of 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service had made known on 

 various occasions during the year its intention to publish 

 final regulations in 1988. 



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