Service move forward with its decision-making on the proposed 

 translocation, notwithstanding the fact that the Endangered 

 Species Act had not been reauthorized. 



Complying with the directive to proceed with the 

 National Environmental Policy Act review of the proposed 

 action, the Service issued a Draft Environmental Impact 

 Statement on 31 July 1986. This document identifies trans- 

 location to San Nicolas Islands in the Channel Islands as the 

 proposed action and sets forth alternatives based on a number 

 of different legal scenarios, including translocation in 

 accordance with the requirements of H.R. 1027. Proposed 

 experimental population regulations were published in the 

 Federal Register on 15 August 1986. By separate letters 

 dated 17 November 1986, the Commission commented on both 

 documents. In its comments, the Commission expressed its 

 support for the proposed action to translocate up to 2 50 sea 

 otters to San Nicolas Island and recommended that imple- 

 mentation begin in 1987. 



In October 1986, the House Committee on Merchant Marine 

 and Fisheries added the sea otter translocation amendment, 

 section 5 of H.R. 1027, to H.R. 4531, legislation concerning 

 extension of the Wetlands Loan Act. This bill passed the 

 Senate on 18 October and was signed into law by the President 

 on 7 November 1986. Enacted as section 1 of Public Law 99- 

 625, the sea otter translocation amendment serves as a free- 

 standing provision of the Endangered Species Act. This means 

 that its requirements will continue to apply even if the sea 

 otter were to be delisted under the Act. The purpose of the 

 amendment is to encourage the development and implementation 

 of a plan for the establishment of at least one sea otter 

 colony outside the present range in California. Within that 

 context, it resolves resource management conflicts that could 

 arise as a result of a translocation. 



The sea otter translocation amendment requires develop- 

 ment by regulation of a plan that includes pertinent infor- 

 mation on the manner in which the translocation will be 

 carried out. That plan is required to specify a trans- 

 location zone that would meet the habitat needs of the 

 translocated animals and provide a buffer from the possible 

 adverse effects of activities that may occur outside the 

 zone. Animals found within this zone would be subject to all 

 applicable protections of the Endangered Species Act and the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act. The plan is also required to 

 specify a management zone. This area is to surround the 

 translocation zone and represents the area from which otters 

 are to be excluded. Sea otters found within this zone are to 

 be removed by feasible, non-lethal means and are provided 

 with fewer legal protections than those that are found within 

 the translocation zone. The final significant component of 



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