With regard to the preceding point, the California Depart- 

 ment of Fish and Game, in consultation with the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, had prepared and, on 11 June 1987, submitted 

 an application to the Federal Wildlife Permit Office for a 

 permit to conduct a series of studies over a three-year period 

 beginning in January 1988 to assess the feasibility of several 

 non-lethal methods to experimentally prevent the establishment 

 of sea otters south of Point Arguello. The Marine Mammal 

 Commission, in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, reviewed the permit application and, by letter of 

 28 July 1987 to the Fish and Wildlife Service, recommended 

 that the application be approved, provided certain conditions 

 were met. The Service concurred with the Commission's recom- 

 mendation and the permit was issued on 12 August 1987. 



As noted earlier, the proposed translocation was designed 

 to accomplish both research and management objectives and 

 reguired a scientific research permit under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act. The permit application was forwarded to the 

 Commission for review on 10 April 1987. The Commission, in 

 consultation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed 

 the application and, by letter of 18 May 1987 to the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, recommended that the proposed translocation 

 be authorized provided certain conditions were met. Among 

 other things, the Commission recommended that authorization 

 to continue activities during the second and subseguent years 

 of the permit be subject to review and approval by the Service, 

 in consultation with the Commission, of a report on the previous 

 year's activities, including information on the number of 

 animals translocated, a review of any problems encountered, 

 and the results of any postmortem examinations done on animals 

 that died as a result of the research. The Service concurred 

 with the Commission's recommendations and a permit authorizing 

 proposed translocation-related research was issued on 12 August 

 1987. 



Following or pending the aforementioned decisions by the 

 California Coastal Commission, the California Fish and Game 

 Commission, and the Federal Wildlife Permit Office, the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service issued a final rule and record of decision 

 on 11 August 1987 regarding the translocation of sea otters 

 to San Nicolas Island and the establishment of a sea otter 

 management zone outside the translocation zone, including all 

 coastal areas south of Point Concepcion. As described in the 

 next section, efforts to capture and translocate sea otters 

 were initiated on 24 August 1987. 



On 28 August 1987, a group representing several fishing 

 interests filed suit in California State Court seeking a 

 temporary restraining order to stop the translocation from 

 proceeding. The plaintiffs alleged that several State laws 

 had been violated in issuing the State permit to the Fish and 



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