to entanglement of marine mammals in marine debris and the 

 general question of persistent plastics in the ocean, a major 

 environmental issue throughout the world. As part of its 

 effort, the Commission recommended that an international 

 workshop on the fate and impact of marine debris be held in 

 1984. The Commission also provided the seed money and terms 

 of reference for that workshop, which served to focus 

 substantial attention on the problem, both in the United 

 States and abroad. This past year, the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration continued to make real progress in 

 implementing its marine debris program and the Coast Guard 

 was instrumental in bringing about ratification of Annex V of 

 the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution 

 from Ships and drafting domestic implementing legislation. By 

 year's end, arrangements were in hand for the Second 

 International Conference on Marine Debris, to be held in 

 Hawaii on 2-7 April 1987. In Chapter VI, a broad range of 

 domestic and international activities relating to debris and 

 plastic pollution are addressed. 



Marine mammal/ fishery interactions concern fishermen, 

 environmentalists, the scientific community, and Congress. 

 When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972, a 

 major reason was that more than 350,000 porpoises had been 

 killed in one year incidental to the commercial yellowfin tuna 

 fishery. As time has passed, some marine mammal populations 

 have grown in response to the protection provided by the Act, 

 and different problems have emerged. In Chapter VII, actions 

 regarding the incidental take of porpoise in the yellowfin 

 tuna purse seine fishery and the adverse impact of the Japanese 

 high seas gill net fisheries upon marine mammals, particularly 

 Dall's porpoise, are both described. 



Chapter VIII contains a brief historical overview of marine 

 mammal/ fishery interactions. Steps taken by the Marine Mammal 

 Commission and others to identify and determine how to avoid 

 or reduce the adverse effects of marine mammal/fishery inter- 

 actions on both the affected fisheries and marine mammals are 

 also reviewed. In addition, Chapter VIII contains a review 

 of those parts of the 1988 Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 amendments intended to produce more reliable information on 

 the nature, extent, and effects of interactions and to identify 

 ecologically and economically sound ways for avoiding or 

 reducing conflicts. 



Conservation of marine mammals in Alaska has been a bio- 

 logically and politically difficult matter for years. Many 

 problems may have arisen because of an unhealthy focus on 

 bureaucratic processes rather than on the welfare of the 

 species or populations in question. To help provide a commonly 

 agreed basis from which groups of differing perspectives 

 could constructively discuss Alaskan marine mammal issues, 



