On 21 July 1986, the Federation submitted an application 

 for a five-year general permit to incidentally take 5,500 

 Dall's porpoise, 450 northern fur seals, and 25 northern sea 

 lions. The submission of the application was announced in 

 the Federal Register on 20 August 1986. In that notice, 

 proposed regulations to implement the permit were published 

 and a formal hearing under section 103 of the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act was announced. The Draft Environmental Impact 

 Statement on the permit request was issued on 29 August 1986. 



A prehearing conference was convened by the Honorable 

 Hugh J. Dolan, presiding officer for the formal hearing, on 

 3 November 1986. The parties to the proceeding represented 

 at the conference were: the permit applicant, the Federation 

 of Japan Cooperative Fisheries Association; Greenpeace, on 

 behalf of several environmental organizations; the Kokechik 

 and Qaluyaat Fishermen's Associations, representing the 

 interests of Alaskan Eskimos; the Marine Mammal Commission; 

 and the National Marine Fisheries Service. 



By letter of 24 November 1986, the Commission commented 

 on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The Commission 

 noted that its formal recommendations on the proposed permit 

 would be made after the formal hearing. The Commission 

 stated that there continued to be serious research defi- 

 ciencies and information gaps concerning the status of the 

 affected stocks and the impacts of the fishery on marine 

 mammal populations. Due to the significance of these data 

 gaps, the Commission stated that it would be inappropriate to 

 issue the permit for more than two years. The suggestion 

 that Japan be required to pay all research and monitoring 

 costs was repeated. In addition, the Commission commented 

 that: (1) an additional alternative for issuing the permit 

 in a form other than that requested by the applicant should 

 be considered; (2) possible U.S. responses to the withdrawal 

 of Japan from the International Convention for the High Seas 

 Fisheries of the North Pacific if the permit is denied should 

 be discussed; (3) the potential impacts of the high seas 

 squid drift net fisheries on Dall's porpoise should be 

 addressed in greater detail; (4) more reliable information 

 should be provided on survey coverage; and (5) the ecosystem 

 impacts of the fishery on salmon stocks and sea birds, as 

 well as marine mammals, should be taken into account. 



The formal hearing on the permit application took place 

 in Seattle from 1-7 December 1986. Testimony was presented 

 by expert witnesses for all of the parties. Commission 

 representatives participated in the hearing. 



Initial briefs on the permit application were filed with 

 the Administrative Law Judge on 29 December 1986. In its 

 brief, the Commission recommended that the permit to take 

 Dall's porpoise be issued for two years, subject to con- 

 ditions for research and monitoring tne areas of greatest 



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