tions in juvenile and adult female survival rates, the cause 

 of which could not be determined. 



Given the Workshop findings, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service announced on 24 April 1987 that it was undertaking a 

 status review to determine whether the northern sea lion should 

 be designated as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act and/or endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species 

 Act. As noted in Chapter II, this review was expected to be 

 completed by 30 October 1987, but was not yet available at the 

 end of 1987. When the status review is made available, the 

 Commission, in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, will review it and provide comments and recommen- 

 dations to the National Marine Fisheries Service as appropriate. 



Killer Whale/Black Cod Fishery Interactions 



In 1986, the Commission learned of a problem involving 

 interactions between killer whales and a developing black cod 

 (sablefish) long-line fishery in Prince William Sound, Alaska. 

 As noted in its previous Report, the Commission wrote to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service on 5 March 1986 requesting 

 information on what was being done to investigate and resolve 

 the problem. By letter of 13 May 1986, the Service advised 

 the Commission that: (1) it had been aware of the problem 

 since the fall of 1985; (2) the Service's Alaska Regional 

 Office had let a contract to survey black cod fishermen in 

 Prince William Sound to determine the quantity of caught fish 

 being taken by killer whales; (3) the report from the contract 

 study indicated that approximately 25 percent of the fall 

 1986 black cod catch in Prince William Sound had been lost to 

 killer whales, that a single killer whale pod appeared to be 

 responsible for the depredation, and that the responsible 

 killer whale pod had a mortality rate twice that of all other 

 pods in the area, probably due to shooting by fishermen; (4) the 

 Service had advised fishermen of steps that they were authorized 

 to take to protect their gear and catch; (5) the Service was 

 considering modifying the General Permit issued to the North 

 Pacific Fishing Vessels Owners Association to allow long-line 

 and pot fishermen to take killer whales only by non-lethal 

 means; (6) a meeting had been held at the National Marine 

 Mammal Laboratory on 21 February 1986 to identify steps that 

 possibly could be taken to prevent or reduce interactions; 

 and (7) no potentially effective and acceptable solutions were 

 identified at that meeting, and funding constraints prevented 

 the Service from undertaking any major new research at that 

 time. 



On 6 June 1986, the Commission advised the Service that 

 it concurred with the determination that it would be desirable 

 and appropriate to modify the general permit issued to the 

 North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners Association to allow long- 



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