and the Secretary's petitions for rehearings en banc . At the 

 end of 1988, a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the 

 Secretary was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision 

 on the petition is expected early in 1989. As a result of these 

 decisions, the Federation did not conduct salmon fishing 

 operations inside the U.S. Fishery Conservation Zone in 1988. 



Marine Mammal Protection Act Reauthorization 



In response to the decision on Kokechik Fishermen ' s 

 Association v. Secretary of Commerce . domestic fishing groups 

 expressed concern during the 1988 Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act reauthorization process that the Court's interpretation 

 would prevent the National Marine Fisheries Service from 

 renewing their incidental take permits when they expired at 

 the end of 1988. This concern was based on the fact that 

 those permits did not cover all marine mammals likely to be 

 taken incidental to domestic fishing operations. 



In response to these concerns, the Act was amended to 

 provide a limited five-year exemption from the incidental 

 take prohibition for domestic fisheries other than the tuna 

 industry. In establishing this exemption, Congress made it 

 clear that this amendment would not be available to the Japanese 

 salmon gill net fleet. Requirements of this amendment are 

 discussed in Chapter II of this Report. 



Administrative Review and Research 



In its 9 January 1987 reply brief to the Administrative 

 Law Judge, the Commission made numerous recommendations concern- 

 ing research and monitoring conditions that should be included 

 in the permit. Most of these recommendations were adopted by 

 the Administrative Law Judge in his recommended decision, 

 accepted by the Under Secretary in the final decision, and 

 incorporated into the permit. With the termination of fishing 

 operations as a result of the litigation, those monitoring 

 conditions ceased to have application after the 1987 fishing 

 season. Research has been drastically curtailed. 



On 20 November 1987, the Commission recommended to the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service that the annual report/action 

 plan requirements of the North Pacific Fisheries Act, which 

 expired on 9 June 1987, be formally extended for every year 

 the Federation conducts activities in U.S. waters. In its 20 

 November 1987 letter, the Commission also requested that the 

 Service comply with the North Pacific Fisheries Act by preparing 

 a report on the results of the Federation's fishing activities 

 for 1986 and publishing a notice of availability of that 

 report in the Federal Register . Finally, the Commission 

 requested information on the enforcement actions taken by the 

 Service with respect to unauthorized incidental takes of 



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