Federal Marking and Taggincr Regulations 



In 1981, the Marine Mammal Protection Act was amended to 

 provide the Fish and Wildlife Service with authority to 

 promulgate regulations requiring the marking, tagging, and 

 reporting of marine mammals taken by Alaska Natives. Through 

 these regulations, it should be possible to obtain better 

 information on the numbers of marine mammals taken for 

 subsistence and handicraft purposes. On 3 December 1985, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service published proposed marking and 

 tagging regulations to implement the new statutory 

 requirement. During the comment period, 32 public meetings 

 were held throughout Alaska to discuss the proposed 

 regulations and solicit comments from affected individuals 

 and interested parties. 



By letter of 3 March 1986, the Commission, in consul- 

 tation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, recommended 

 that the regulations be adopted, subject to certain modifi- 

 cations. Among other changes, the Commission recommended 

 that: (a) the data obtained as a result of the regulations 

 should be summarized each year in the annual report which the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service is required to submit to Congress 

 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; (b) the penalty 

 provisions of the regulations should apply to the trans- 

 portation and export of unregistered marine mammal parts; and 

 (c) a cost-effective, administratively flexible approach 

 should be established for designating the villages where 

 authorized Service representatives would be stationed for 

 sealing and reporting purposes. 



At the end of 1986, final regulations had not been 

 published. At the Commission's annual meeting held in 

 Anchorage, Alaska, on 28-30 October 1986, the Regional 

 Director for the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the 

 marking and tagging program would not be implemented until 

 adequate funds became available. 



Litigation 



In a lawsuit filed in 1985 ( Katelnikoff v. U.S. 

 Department of the Interior ) , an Alaska Native challenged the 

 validity of the Fish and Wildlife Service's regulatory 

 definition of "authentic Native articles of handicraft and 

 clothing." That definition requires that, in order to 

 qualify for the Marine Mammal Protection Act's Native take 

 exemption, handicraft articles fashioned from marine mammal 

 parts and products must have been "commonly produced on or 

 before December 21, 1972." The plaintiff's complaint alleged 

 that the cut-off date has no basis in the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act. 



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