As noted in Chapter II, the 1988 amendments to the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act direct the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to 

 conduct an independent review to identify research necessary 

 to evaluate potentially promising new methods for locating 

 and catching yellowfin tuna without the incidental taking of 

 marine mammals. To help develop terms of reference for this 

 contract study, the National Marine Fisheries Service convened 

 a workshop at its Southwest Fisheries Center on 11-12 October 

 1988 to review what has been done and what more might reasonably 

 be done to identify and evaluate possible alternatives to the 

 practice of setting or porpoise schools to catch tuna. Workshop 

 participants included representatives of the Service, the 

 Marine Mammal Commission, the U.S. tuna fishing industry, 

 environmental groups, and other organizations with interest 

 or expertise relative to the problem. 



At the end of 1988, it was the Commission's understanding 

 that the National Marine Fisheries Service expected to be 

 able to complete the remainder of the porpoise monitoring 

 program initiated in 1986 and that it had initiated discussions 

 with the National Academy of Sciences to agree on the terms 

 of the contract study mandated by the 1988 amendments. 



The Pall's Porpoise Issue 



Dall's porpoise ( Phocoenoides dalli ) become entangled 

 and die in gill nets used in drift gill net fishing operations 

 in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Most of this take 

 has occurred incidental to operations of the Japanese high 

 seas salmon fleet. In past years, the Japanese were permitted 

 to fish for salmon inside the U.S. 200-mile Fishery Conservation 

 Zone pursuant to the International Convention for the High 

 Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific. As a result of recent 

 litigation, however, the Japanese are prohibited under the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act from fishing for salmon within 

 the U.S. Fishery Conservation Zone. The Court decision in 

 this litigation received considerable attention during 1988 

 in association with reauthorization of the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act (see Chapter II) . It also has implications 

 for other activities such as offshore oil and gas exploration 

 and development that result in the incidental take of marine 

 mammals. 



The Dall's Porpoise Permit, 1981-1986 



As discussed in previous Annual Reports, beginning in 

 1981, the Japanese were required to obtain a Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act incidental take permit for salmon fishing 

 operations in U.S. waters under the North Pacific Fisheries 

 Act. A general permit authorizing the Federation of Japan 



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