sea lion population in Alaska as depleted under the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act. The Commission, in consultation with 

 its Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed and, by letter 

 of 8 July 1988 to the Service, provided comments on the proposed 

 rulemaking and the Steller Sea Lion Status Review prepared 

 and distributed by the Service in conjunction with the Federal 

 Register notice. In its letter, the Commission stated its 

 view that available information provided sufficient grounds 

 for designating Steller sea lions, in at least some areas, as 

 depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and possibly 

 as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Commission 

 also noted that, while available information is insufficient 

 to document the cause of the decline, information provided in 

 the Status Review suggests that incidental take in commercial 

 fisheries in Alaskan waters has at least contributed to the 

 decline. 



With regard to the potential impact of incidental take, 

 the Commission noted that the Status Review indicated that an 

 estimated 305 Steller sea lions were shot in the spring of 

 1978 by fishermen participating in the Copper River Delta 

 salmon gill net fishery. While recognizing that this fishery 

 may not be representative of all fisheries in Alaska, the 

 Commission suggested that the Service extrapolate this and 

 other incidental take and fishery data to obtain an "order of 

 magnitude" estimate of the numbers of sea lions possibly 

 being taken incidentally by various fisheries in Alaskan waters. 



In addition, the Commission suggested that past survey 

 data and ongoing and planned baseline and monitoring programs 

 be carefully evaluated to determine: (1) what proportion of 

 the apparent population decline may be attributable to variation 

 in survey techniques or the time of year when surveys were 

 conducted; (2) the magnitude of population increases or 

 decreases that could be detected over different time intervals 

 (e.g., one, three, five, and ten years) given the nature and 

 extent of ongoing and planned monitoring programs; and (3) what 

 additional baseline research and monitoring programs would be 

 required to document the cause or causes of the decline and 

 to judge the effectiveness of measures that may be taken to 

 stop and reverse the decline. Finally, the Commission 

 recommended that the Service immediately designate Steller 

 sea lions in Alaska as depleted under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act and develop and begin implementing a Conservation 

 Plan for the species. 



Amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act 



Among other things, the 1988 amendments to the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act, described in Chapter II of this Report, 

 provide that no more than 1,350 Steller sea lions may be 

 killed incidentally in fisheries in U.S. waters in any calendar 



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