and various forms of harrassment were used in a number of 

 areas to control the distribution, abundance, and behavior of 

 marine mammals. The purpose was to eliminate or reduce 

 damage and loss of gear and catch caused by marine mammals. 

 As a result, in some areas, marine mammal populations were 

 reduced to and held at very low levels. The Act imposed a 

 moratorium on such activities and, in the ensuing years, 

 marine mammals have become more abundant in some areas and/or 

 less likely to avoid fishing boats and gear. 



By the mid-1970s, there were reports of increasing 

 interactions between marine mammals and fisheries, parti- 

 cularly in the Pacific Northwest. In December 1977, the 

 Commission convened a workshop to gather and review available 

 information on the nature, extent, and impact of interactions 

 in Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. 

 Workshop participants concluded that the most acute problems 

 seemed to involve seals, sea lions, and the salmon gill net 

 fisheries in the Copper River Delta of Alaska and the 

 Columbia River in Washington and Oregon (for more informa- 

 tion, see Matkin and Fay, 1980, and Mate, 1980, Appendix B) . 

 Following the workshop, the Commission, among other things, 

 provided funds to initiate investigation of the interactions 

 problem in the Copper River Delta and to begin development of 

 a plan to investigate and, as necessary, resolve the inter- 

 actions problem in the Columbia River and adjacent areas. 

 The details and results of these and related studies are 

 described in the Commission's Annual Reports for Calendar 

 Years 1978-82. 



In 1978-1981, additional studies were initiated by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, the North Pacific Fishery 

 Management Council, and the States of Alaska, Washington, 

 Oregon, and California. Their purpose was to better deter- 

 mine the nature and extent of certain interactions in the 

 Bering Sea, along the U.S. coast from Washington to Califor- 

 nia, and off the New England coast. The Commission, con- 

 cerned that these studies might not be providing either 

 comparable data or the types and quality of data needed for 

 decision-making, convened a follow-up workshop in 

 October 1981 to review and determine what steps should be 

 taken to improve and coordinate ongoing and planned studies. 



The report of that workshop (see Contos, 1982, Appendix 

 B) , published in April 1982, notes that: (1) it is not 

 possible to make broad generalizations about marine mammal/ 

 fisheries interactions in different areas and each situation 

 must therefore be considered individually; (2) because of the 

 potentially complex nature of indirect (trophic) interactions 

 among marine mammals, fisheries, and fish and shellfish 

 resources, there is a substantial risk of making bad manage- 

 ment decisions; (3) to minimize the risk of making bad 



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