caught by setting on porpoise. By letter of 3 October 1986, 

 the Commission supported the regulations and recommended that 

 permanent regulations including similar requirements be 

 established for future fishing seasons. 



Based on the reports from observers, the Service esti- 

 mated that the quota would be reached on 21 October 1986. As 

 required by the Service's tuna-porpoise regulations, a 

 Federal Register notice was published on 14 October 1986 

 announcing that the prohibition on further take of porpoise 

 would become effective on 21 October. As of that date, an 

 estimated 20,728 porpoise had been killed during the 1986 

 season. The Service's emergency interim regulations went 

 into effect on 21 October and no additional takes of porpoise 

 were reported in 1986. In its 23 December letter to the 

 Service, the Commission repeated its recommendation that 

 permanent quota enforcement regulations be established. 



At the end of 1986, the Service took the first step 

 toward establishing regulations that would govern the per- 

 formance of individual vessels and/or captains in the U.S. 

 tuna fleet by issuing a position paper on alternative 

 approaches. These standards, which would be set forth as 

 regulations, are intended to address the problem that arose 

 in 1986 when certain vessels and/or captains experienced 

 exceptionally high kill rates. The standards would be imple- 

 mented along with increased observer coverage to provide a 

 more effective method for monitoring the operations of the 

 U.S. fleet, reducing kill rates, and imposing appropriate 

 sanctions, such as the revocation of certificates of inclu- 

 sion, on captains and/or vessels with poor performance 

 records. During 1987, the Commission will consult with the 

 Service and other interested parties on this proposal and 

 other matters concerning the incidental take of porpoise in 

 the tuna purse seine fishery. 



Foreign Nation Compliance Programs 



During the 1984 reauthorization hearings on the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act, concern was expressed by the Commis- 

 sion, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the tuna 

 industry, and the environmental community that progress 

 realized by the U.S. fleet in reducing incidental porpoise 

 mortality was being offset by the high kill rates of foreign 

 fleets. It was felt that, if further progress were to be 

 made in achieving the Act's goal of reducing incidental 

 mortality to insignificant levels approaching zero, greater 

 controls over foreign fleets would be necessary. As a 

 result. Congress amended the Act to require that each nation 

 exporting tuna to this country provide documentary evidence 

 that it has adopted a program to regulate the incidental take 

 of marine mammals that is comparable to that of the U.S. and 

 that the average rate of incidental take by its fleet is 



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