decline, would provide a substantially improved basis for 

 identifying, scheduling, and evaluating essential research 

 and management activities. In addition, the Commission noted 

 that such a plan would help facilitate agreements on ways to 

 strengthen and expand cooperative international support of 

 critical research and management tasks. To help clarify the 

 scope and intent of the recommended conservation plan, the 

 Commission sent a preliminary discussion draft outline for a 

 Pribilof Islands fur seal conservation plan to the Service on 

 6 December 1985. 



By early 1986, the 1984 Protocol to extend the Interim 

 Convention had been ratified by all parties but the United 

 States and arrangements were being considered for a meeting 

 of parties in Ottawa, Canada, in April 1986. The purpose of 

 the meeting was to discuss the future role of the Interim 

 Convention, long-term research planning, the entanglement 

 problem, and the 1985 subsistence harvest on the Pribilof 

 Islands. In preparation for the meeting, the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service prepared and distributed a draft issue 

 paper on 10 February 1986 and scheduled a preparatory meeting 

 for 19 March 1986 in Seattle, Washington. 



The Commission reviewed the issue paper, which proposed 

 U.S. positions on the four subject areas noted above, and 

 returned comments to the Service on 14 February 1986. The 

 Commission noted that it had not received a response from the 

 Service to its letter of 29 November 1985 and that, based on 

 the draft issue paper for the Ottawa meeting, it appeared 

 that needed actions still had not been defined adequately. 

 Accordingly, the Commission noted that, unless steps were 

 taken immediately to develop and seek international cooper- 

 ation in implementing a comprehensive conservation plan, yet 

 another year would pass with the Service failing to take the 

 steps necessary to determine and reverse the causes of the 

 continuing population decline. 



On 21 February 1986, the Service responded to the 

 Commission's 29 November 1985 letter. With respect to the 

 recommendations that the Service constitute and convene a 

 domestic working group to prepare a long-term conservation 

 plan and that it use that plan as a basis for seeking 

 international cooperation in implementing necessary measures, 

 the Service noted that: the matter would be discussed during 

 the course of the Ottawa meeting of party governments; the 

 Commission's discussion draft outline for a conservation plan 

 would form the basis of the U.S. contribution; the U.S. would 

 propose during the meeting that party governments direct 

 their scientists to jointly develop a long-term research 

 master plan for fur seals; and, if the U.S. did not ratify 

 the Protocol extending the Convention, the Service would 

 consult with the Marine Mammal Commission to consider alter- 



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