decision on whether to proceed with such a request. As a 

 part of the process, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game 

 conducted forty-nine formally announced public meetings to 

 provide information on the transfer process requirements, to 

 explain the likely consequences of a State management 

 program, and to solicit comments from coastal residents and 

 other affected parties. These meetings were completed early 

 in 1985. 



The State's review of the transfer of management issue 

 was made more complex on 22 February 1985 when the Alaska 

 Supreme Court, in its decision in Madison v. Alaska 

 Department of Fish and Game , invalidated a Board of Fisheries 

 regulation designed to identify eligibility for subsistence 

 fishing in the Cook Inlet region. The decision called into 

 question the sufficiency of the State's subsistence statute 

 and regulations under the transfer of management requirements 

 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



On 3 May 198 6, the State enacted an amendment to its 

 subsistence law intended to remove the discrepancies between 

 State and Federal subsistence requirements. By letter of 18 

 November 1986, the Department of the Interior's Assistant 

 Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks informed the State 

 that the amendment brought the State law into compliance with 

 the subsistence requirements of the Alaska National Interest 

 Lands Conservation Act. Those requirements are virtually 

 identical to the subsistence provisions of section 109(f)(1) 

 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that must be satisfied 

 before a transfer of management can be accomplished. Thus, 

 it appears that the impediment to transfer of management 

 imposed by the Madison decision has been removed. 



At the 28-30 October 1986 meeting of the Commission and 

 its Committee of Scientific Advisors in Anchorage, the Alaska 

 Department of Fish and Game stated that no decision had been 

 made on whether to proceed with a request for a transfer of 

 management. It was further indicated that, after the 

 November 1986 election, a new Governor would be responsible 

 for making this decision and that the transfer of management 

 issue would be identified as an important policy matter in 

 the Department's transition report. The Department expressed 

 its support for establishing a cooperative process for 

 addressing marine mammal issues, regardless of whether the 

 State or the Federal Government has management authority, and 

 stated that the final Working Group reports would provide the 

 best source of information on marine mammals in Alaska. 



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