the extension request. An additional 71 seals subsequently 

 were taken on St. Paul Island. 



The subsistence harvest regulations require the Service 

 to publish, by 1 April 1987, a summary of the 1986 harvest 

 and a discussion of the number of seals expected to be taken 

 in the 1987 harvest season. After a 30-day public review 

 period, a final notice of expected harvest levels is to be 

 published. 



Designation of North Pacific Fur Seals as Depleted 



In 1984, 1985, and 1986 the Commission recommended that 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service formally designate the 

 Pribilof Islands stock of North Pacific fur seals as depleted 

 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Service indi- 

 cated apparent agreement that the Pribilof Islands stock is 

 depleted in: the February 1985 Environmental Impact State- 

 ment on the Interim Fur Seal Convention; the 1985 Federal 

 Register notice announcing that the petition to list fur 

 seals as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act had 

 been denied; Federal Register notices published in 1985 and 

 1986 on subsistence harvest regulations; and the 20 August 

 1986 Federal Register notice concerning a request submitted 

 by the Federation of Japan Salmon Fisheries Cooperative 

 Association to incidentally take Dall's porpoise, fur seals, 

 and sea lions in salmon fishing operations. In its 9 July 

 1986 Federal Register notice on the permanent subsistence 

 harvest regulations, the Service stated that a depletion rule 

 would be proposed no later than October 1986. 



Two petitions to formally designate the fur seal as 

 depleted were submitted to the Service in October 1986. On 

 24 October, the Kokechik and Qaluyaat Fishermen's Associ- 

 ations, representing Yup'ik Eskimo commercial and subsistence 

 fishermen, requested that this action be taken and, on 30 

 October, a similar petition was filed by the Center for 

 Environmental Education. 



During the Commission's 1986 annual meeting held in 

 Anchorage, Alaska, on 28-30 October, the recently appointed 

 Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service announced 

 that the Service had initiated the necessary steps to publish 

 a proposed depletion designation. The proposed rule was 

 published in the Federal Register on 30 December 1986. 

 During the prescribed comment period in 1987, the Commission 

 will submit comments on the proposed designation. 



By the end of 1986, the Service had started to take 

 action on most of the recommendations which the Commission 

 had made over the course of the past two years. Under the 

 leadership of its newly appointed Director, the Service had, 



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