Fishery Conservation Zone. The fishery is subject to the 

 Convention, a Memorandum of Understanding between the United 

 States and Japan on coordinated research efforts, the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act, the North Pacific Fisheries Act, and 

 general permit requirements. 



The Pall's Porpoise Permit. 1981-1986 



A general permit authorizing the Federation of Japan 

 Salmon Fisheries Cooperative Association to incidentally take 

 up to 5,500 Dall's porpoise, 450 northern fur seals, and 25 

 northern sea lions per year was issued by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service in 1981 for the 1981-1983 fishing seasons. 

 Through the 1982 amendments to the North Pacific Fisheries 

 Act, which implements the High Seas Fisheries Convention in 

 the United States, the general permit was extended until 9 

 June 1987. The amendments required the Japanese to introduce 

 new fishing gear and techniques to reduce the incidental take 

 of porpoise. In addition, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service was required annually to prepare a report on the 

 operations of the Federation during the preceding fishing 

 season and issue a detailed action plan concerning monitoring, 

 research, development, and other necessary actions for the 

 forthcoming season. 



Under section 14(a)(2) of the North Pacific Fisheries 

 Act, Japan was required to have introduced new gear or fishing 

 techniques into its entire salmon drift gill net fleet by the 

 1987 fishing season. The National Marine Fisheries Service 

 has authority under the Act to determine what types of fishing 

 gear or techniques offer the most practical and effective 

 opportunity for reducing porpoise mortality and to specify 

 which of those must be adopted by the Japanese fleet. In 

 1987, two types of nets were used. Twenty-one percent of the 

 fleet used nets with three strands of multi-filament material 

 along the midline of the net. The remainder of the fleet 

 used nets with three strands of hollow tube material along 

 the midline. It was hoped that these gear modifications 

 would make it easier for porpoise to detect and avoid gill 

 nets through echolocation. Preliminary reports suggest that 

 there was no significant difference in take rates between the 

 two net types. Additional research is needed to determine 

 whether these modifications can effectively reduce Dall's 

 porpoise mortality. 



Estimates based on U.S. observer coverage of the Japanese 

 fishing operations indicate that except through the reduction 

 of fishing effort, there had been no progress in reducing the 

 total level of Dall's porpoise mortality since the permit was 

 issued. Making note of this trend, the Administrative Law 

 Judge presiding over proceedings for the 1987 permit application 

 concluded that the Federation has been without success in 



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