the adverse effects of marine mammal/fisheries interactions. 

 In response to these concerns, representatives of the U.S. 

 conservation community and fishing industry proposed to Congress 

 in May 1988 that the Marine Mammal Protection Act be amended 

 to allow for a limited, three-year exemption to the provisions 

 of the Act dealing with incidental take permits. During this 

 time, programs would be initiated to compile and analyze data 

 on the types, levels, and implications of marine 

 mammal/fisheries interactions. 



Congress generally concurred with the proposal and in 

 October 1988 passed amending legislation which, among other 

 things, suspends until 1 October 1993 the general permit and 

 small take provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 applicable to U.S. fishermen and those foreign fishermen 

 authorized to fish in U.S. waters pursuant to Section 204 of 

 the Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The amendments 

 also require that owners of vessels engaged in fisheries that 

 take marine mammals more than rarely in U.S. waters register 

 with the Secretary of Commerce (National Marine Fisheries 

 Service) and report all incidents of interactions with marine 

 mammals. 



To help implement these provisions, the amendments require 

 that: (a) by 23 March 1989, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, in consultation with the Commission and after an 

 opportunity for public comment, develop a list identifying 

 those fisheries that take marine mammals frequently, occasion- 

 ally, and rarely; (b) 20 to 35 percent of the fishing effort 

 by vessels engaged in fisheries identified as taking marine 

 mammals frequently be monitored by National Marine Fisheries 

 Service observers onboard the vessels; (c) a volunteer observer 

 program or alternative observation program be developed by 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service to obtain statistically 

 reliable information on the species and numbers of marine 

 mammals being taken incidentally by fisheries for which required 

 observers are not available or for which reliable information 

 is not available; and (d) the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 design and implement an information management system capable 

 of processing and analyzing incidental take and related data 

 provided by fishermen, observers, and others. 



The amendments, which were signed by the President and 

 became law on 23 November 1988, also provide that, if the 

 Secretary finds that the incidental taking of marine mammals 

 in a fishery is having an immediate and significant adverse 

 impact on a marine mammal population or, in the case of Steller 

 sea lions and North Pacific fur seals, that more than 1,350 

 and 50 animals, respectively, will be killed incidentally 

 during a calendar year, the Secretary shall consult with the 

 appropriate Regional Fishery Management Councils and State 

 fishery managers, and prescribe emergency regulations to 



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