reports for details of these recommendations) . No action was 

 taken on these recommendations until 30 December 1986 when 

 the Service published and requested comments on a proposed 

 rule designating the Pribilof Islands fur seal population as 

 depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. A public 

 meeting was held in Anchorage, Alaska, on 21 January 1987 to 

 obtain comments on the proposal. The comment period, initially 

 scheduled to end on 6 February, was subsequently extended to 

 3 March 1987 to accommodate rural Alaskans. 



The Commission reviewed and, by letter of 6 March 1987, 

 provided comments on the proposed rulemaking to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service. The Commission concurred with the 

 Service's determinations that: the population was below 50 

 percent of its observed level in the 1940s and early 1950s; 

 there is no evidence suggesting that the North Pacific ecosystem 

 cannot still support a fur seal population as high as that 

 observed in the 1940s and 1950s; and the Pribilof Islands fur 

 seal population consequently is below its maximum net produc- 

 tivity level, which is the lower limit of its optimum sus- 

 tainable population range. In its comments, the Commission 

 noted that, while the population had declined, the average body 

 sizes of both male and female fur seals had increased and the 

 length of time fur seals spend at sea feeding had decreased, 

 suggesting that the population was not being limited by 

 decreased food supplies. 



On 4 August 1987, the Service requested comments from 

 the Commission and others on a draft final rule designating 

 the Pribilof Islands fur seal population as depleted under the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act. On 1 September 1987, the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service received a petition from the St. Paul 

 Aleut community and the Pribilof Aleut Sealing Commission 

 requesting reconsideration of the proposed rulemaking. The 

 Service determined that no useful purpose would be served by 

 delaying the depletion designation and, on 28 September 1987, 

 it denied the Aleuts' request. 



During consideration of the draft final rule, the Service's 

 Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center questioned the Service's 

 determination that the fur seal carrying capacity of the 

 Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean had not changed significantly 

 since the peak in population size in the early 1950s. In 

 response to the Center's questions, the Service, on 31 December 

 1987, suspended action on the proposed rulemaking and reopened 

 the comment period on the proposed rule. In anticipation of 

 this action, the Humane Society of the United States filed 

 suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia 

 on 17 December 1987, claiming that any further delay in desig- 

 nating the Pribilof Islands fur seal population as depleted was 

 unjustified and contrary to provisions of the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act. At the end of 1987, the National Marine 



27 



