As noted in Chapter II of this Report and in previous 

 Annual Reports, the California Department of Fish and Game 

 and the California state legislature have taken steps to pro- 

 hibit the use of drift nets and set nets at certain times and 

 in certain areas to prevent or reduce the incidental take of 

 sea birds, sea otters, harbor porpoise, gray whales, and other 

 marine mammals. In 1987, the California legislature enacted 

 additional legislation extending the prohibition on the use 

 of drift nets and set nets and requiring the modification of 

 certain types of set nets to reduce the possibility of entang- 

 ling and killing gray whales. Also, as noted in previous 

 Reports, the National Marine Fisheries Service has modified 

 its regulations governing incidental take to allow owners and 

 operators of commercial passenger fishing vessels to use seal 

 bombs, cracker shells, and acoustic harassment devices to 

 prevent California sea lions from taking fish caught by pas- 

 sengers . 



Although substantial effort has been devoted to determining 

 the nature and extent of marine mammal/ fishery interactions, 

 relatively little has been done to identify and evaluate the 

 relative cost and benefits of measures that possibly could be 

 taken to avoid or reduce the adverse effects of interactions. 

 This fact was noted during the Commission's meeting in San 

 Diego, California, in October 1985. Following that meeting, 

 the Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game 

 agreed to cooperatively sponsor a workshop to determine and 

 describe such additional measures as may be necessary to assess, 

 avoid, and reduce impacts on both the involved fisheries and 

 marine mammal populations. 



As noted in the Commission's previous Annual Report, the 

 Workshop was held in San Francisco, California, on 26-28 March 

 1986. It was planned and supported cooperatively by the Comm- 

 ission, the California Department of Fish and Game, the Cali- 

 fornia Sea Grant Program, the National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Participants included 

 representatives of these agencies and representatives of com- 

 mercial fisheries, the academic community, and public interest 

 groups. The Workshop concluded that several fisheries and 

 marine mammal populations in California are being affected so 

 severely that measures may be necessary to reduce or mitigate 

 interactions. For example, the commercial passenger fishing 

 vessel fishery, the commercial salmon troll fishery, and coastal 

 set net fisheries are being affected substantially by California 

 sea lions and other marine mammals that take or damage caught 

 fish. Likewise, the incidental take of sea otters, harbor- 

 porpoise, harbor seals, and some other marine mammal species 

 may have caused, or be causing or contributing to, population 

 declines. 



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