A draft of the Working Group's report was reviewed by 

 the Committee of Scientific Advisors and considered during 

 the October 1985 meeting of the Commission and Committee in 

 San Diego. Informal comments on the draft report were received 

 from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, and several non-governmental parties. Based on 

 those comments, the draft report was revised during 1986 and 

 issued to interested parties for formal review. 



The Working Group report formed the basis for the permit- 

 related legislative proposals put forward by the Commission 

 during the 1988 reauthorization of the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act. Other concerns addressed in the report have been brought 

 to the attention of the appropriate regulatory agencies. It 

 is expected that the comprehensive review of the permit program 

 being conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service will 

 address the other issues identified by the Working Group. 



Issues Concerning Lethal Take for Public Display 



During 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service reguested 

 Commission comments on a permit application seeking authority 

 to kill a walrus for purposes of museum display. By letter of 

 28 October 1987, the Commission advised the Service that, in 

 its view, lethal taking of marine mammals from the wild for 

 this use is not warranted if satisfactory specimens can be 

 obtained from alternative sources, such as an animal that dies 

 in captivity, is killed intentionally or unintentionally during 

 scientific research, or is taken incidental to commercial 

 fishing. In this regard, the Commission noted that, if a 

 specimen is not immediately available, one is likely to become 

 available within a reasonable time and it therefore recommended 

 that the applicant be required to explore alternative sources 

 of animals. 



In a related letter, also sent to the Service on 28 

 October, the Commission recommended that the Service prepare 

 a general policy statement concerning such requests and provide 

 a draft to the Commission and the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service for review. Specifically, the Commission suggested 

 development of a policy requiring that, whenever possible, 

 applications requesting specimens for mounted displays be met 

 by sources that do not require a direct lethal take and that 

 permits authorizing lethal takes for such purposes be issued 

 only when specimens cannot possibly be obtained from other 

 sources. On 24 November 1987, the Service replied to the 

 Commission's letter, noting that it agreed that lethal take 

 for public display is inappropriate if specimens are available 

 from other sources and that it intended to adopt a formal 

 policy on the matter. Late in 1987, the Service prepared a 



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