illegal and the persons catching harbor porpoise subject to 

 civil and criminal penalties. 



In its 23 December letter, the Commission recommended 

 that the Service: (a) ensure that the ongoing status of 

 stock assessment for harbor porpoise be completed by January 

 1987; (b) depending on the result of that review and before 

 coastal gill net fisheries begin again in May, take the 

 necessary steps either to authorize a specified level of 

 incidental take or prohibit further taking; and (3) ensure 

 that harbor porpoise take under a general permit is reported 

 promptly, that data and samples necessary to assess the 

 effects of the take are provided to the Service and/or the 

 California Department of Fish and Game, and that monitoring 

 efforts are sufficient to accurately determine the level, 

 locations, and age/sex composition of any incidental take. 



The Service should complete its stock assessment early 

 in 1987 and, depending on the results of the assessment, take 

 steps to prohibit or authorize incidental take. The Com- 

 mission, in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, will review the status report and the Service's 

 proposed actions and make recommendations as may be required 

 to meet the provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



River Dolphins (Family Platanistidae) 



The Platanistidae family of toothed whales and porpoise 

 is comprised of five species commonly known as river 

 dolphins. This family includes the only species of cetaceans 

 whose natural habitat is limited to fresh-water environments. 

 The species and their distribution are: Platanista 

 ganqetica . known as the Ganges susu or blind river dolphin 

 and found in India and Bangladesh; P. minor , the Indus susu, 

 found in the Indus River system of Pakistan; Inia 

 geof frensis . the boutu or Amazon dolphin, found in the Amazon 

 and Orinoco River basins in South America; Lipotes 

 vexillifer , the baiji or white flag dolphin, presently found 

 along the middle and lower Yangtze River in China; and 

 Pontoporia blainvillei . the franciscana, found in the coastal 

 waters of the Atlantic from Argentina to Brazil. Pontoporia 

 is the only member of the family Platanistidae that inhabits 

 salt water. 



The little information available on the population 

 status and ecology of river dolphins suggests that all five 

 species may be threatened to varying degrees with extinction 

 due to subsistence hunting, incidental take during the course 

 of fishing operations, and/or human-caused destruction and 

 degradation of their habitat. Construction of dams and other 

 riparian development in important river dolphin habitat, such 



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