draft policy statement and provided it to the Commission and 

 the National Marine Fisheries Service. 



In August 1988, the Commission learned that effective 

 identification of possible alternative sources of suitable 

 specimens to satisfy the request noted above was not taking 

 place, possibly because of poor communication and coordination 

 between the Service's Permit Office in Washington, D.C., and 

 its Alaska Regional Office. A formal policy statement 

 concerning such requests had not yet been adopted by the 

 Service and, by letter of 18 August 1988, the Commission 

 recommended that the Permit Office immediately request that 

 its Alaska Regional Office inform individuals involved in 

 walrus research and management of appropriate steps to report 

 the existence of possible specimens that could be used to 

 satisfy the applicant's request without sacrificing an animal. 

 By memorandum of 20 September 1988, the Alaska Regional Office 

 informed the Service's Permit Office of its intention to meet 

 requests for museum specimens of marine mammals from salvaged 

 carcasses or other appropriate sources whenever opportunities 

 permitted doing so. 



At the end of 1988, the Commission was in the process of 

 developing a letter to the Service on implementation of the 

 newly enacted amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 

 Among other things, the amendments set forth a principle that 

 lethal research on marine mammals not be authorized if non- 

 lethal alternatives are available. The Commission expects to 

 suggest in its letter that this principle be extended to 

 public display permits. Under such an extension, directed 

 killing to obtain display specimens could not be authorized 

 unless it could be shown that all non-lethal, alternative 

 sources of specimens had been exhausted. In this regard, the 

 Commission believes that the Service's draft policy statement 

 on lethal taking for public display, developed late in 1987, 

 was consistent with the recent amendments and it intends to 

 suggest that the Service take steps to adopt a formal policy 

 as soon as possible. 



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