CHAPTER III 



STATUTORY AMENDMENTS CONCERNING MARINE MAMMALS 



In 1986, Congress passed legislation to clarify legal 

 requirements for the proposed translocation of southern sea 

 otters and to provide authorization for the taking of small 

 numbers of depleted marine mammals incidental to activities 

 other than commercial fishing. As discussed in the previous 

 Annual Report, these issues were raised in 1985 during 

 Congressional deliberations on reauthorization of the 

 Endangered Species Act. Although the reauthorization bill, 

 H.R. 1027, was passed by the House of Representatives on 

 29 July 1985, reauthorization legislation was not passed by 

 the Senate. However, during 1986, the marine mammal 

 provisions of H.R. 1027 were considered and passed in 

 conjunction with other legislation. 



The sea otter amendment was passed by Congress on 

 18 October 1986 as part of the Wetlands Loan Extension Act 

 and was signed into law on 7 November 1986. The amendment 

 clarifies the Fish and Wildlife Service's authority to 

 translocate and manage a second population of sea otters. In 

 addition, it establishes special decision-making standards 

 for the proposed translocation. The provisions of this 

 amendment are discussed in detail in the sea otter section of 

 Chapter IX of this Report. As noted in that section, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting its decision-making 

 review of the sea otter translocation proposal, and a 

 decision on the proposal pursuant to the requirements of the 

 sea otter amendment is expected early in 1987. 



Also on 18 October 1986, Congress passed S. 991, 

 authorizing appropriations for certain fisheries activities. 

 This bill included an amendment to section 101(a)(5) of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Prior to amendment, section 

 101(a)(5) authorized the Secretaries of the Interior and 

 Commerce to permit U.S. citizens engaged in activities other 

 than commercial fishing to incidentally take small numbers of 

 non-depleted marine mammals. However, the authority did not 

 coincide with analogous incidental take provisions in the 

 Endangered Species Act. Therefore, amendment was considered 

 desirable to make the analogous provisions of the two 

 statutes consistent. 



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