Chapter III — Marine Mammal-Fisheries Interactions 



ing the possible adverse effects of the take on marine 

 mammal stocks. The Commission explained that this 

 was problematic inasmuch as the proposed monitoring 

 programs probably could not detect population de- 

 clines as great as five to ten percent per year in less 

 than 10 to 20 years. The Commission therefore 

 recommended that the length of time that incidental 

 takes could be authorized without making formal 

 status-of-stocks determinations or verifying that 

 affected populations are increasing toward, or being 

 maintained within, their optimum sustainable popula- 

 tion ranges be limited to three to five years. Without 

 such a limit, there would be little incentive to ensure 

 that incidental take during commercial fishing opera- 

 tions, by itself and in combination with other forms of 

 take, does not cause the affected populations to be 

 reduced or to be maintained below their maximum net 

 productivity levels. 



Under the Service's proposal, recovery plans and 

 conservation plans could establish allowable removal 

 levels less than those calculated using the allowable 

 biological removal formula. The proposal, however, 

 did not identify those situations when such reductions 

 would be appropriate or provide any criteria for 

 making such determinations. Noting that such deter- 

 minations were likely to be highly controversial and 

 could impede necessary conservation measures, the 

 Commission recommended that the Service expand its 

 proposal to provide criteria forjudging when it would 

 be appropriate for recovery plans and conservation 

 plans to establish take levels less than would be 

 authorized using the general allowable biological 

 removal formula. 



The Draft Legislative Environmental Impact 

 Statement that accompanied the Service's proposal 

 assessed the economic impacts of four alternatives 

 using the period before enactment of the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act as a baseline. This created 

 the misimpression that adoption of any of the alterna- 

 tives would adversely affect fisheries to one degree or 

 another. The Commission noted that, absent addition- 

 al legislation, the system for authorizing the take of 

 marine mammals incidental to commercial fisheries 

 would revert to that in existence prior to enactment of 

 the interim exemption in 1988 and recommended that 

 the economic analyses be redone using that as the 

 baseline. Such analyses would show that three of the 

 four alternatives, including the Service's proposal and 



the Commission's recommended guidelines, would 

 benefit fisheries to various degrees, at the expense of 

 marine mammals. 



In addition, the Commission recommended that: 



• the term "allowable biological removal" be 

 changed to clarify that it represents the maximum 

 number of animals that might be taken from a 

 population with confidence that the removals would 

 not cause the population to be reduced or to be 

 maintained below its maximum net productivity 

 level; 



• the proposed regime be revised to include a 

 streamlined procedure for authorizing "small takes" 

 of marine mammals in fisheries that have few 

 interacations similar to that for non-fisheries 

 activities provided in section 101(a)(5) of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act; 



• the Service establish a threshold below which no 

 incidental taking could be authorized unless it were 

 reasonably demonstrated that the population is 

 increasing at or near its maximum growth rate and 

 the authorized level of take would not significantly 

 reduce the recovery rate; 



• the Service revise its approach for allocating 

 allowable biological removals so that each re- 

 quested authorization is judged on its own merits, 

 taking into account: (1) other forms of taking; (2) 

 measures that might be taken to reduce unneces- 

 sary taking and to allocate the allowable take 

 equitably among foreign and U.S. fisheries and 

 other users; and (3) the likelihood that ongoing or 

 planned monitoring programs are adequate to 

 ensure that the affected populations are increasing 

 toward, or being maintained within, their optimum 

 sustainable population ranges; 



• the proposal be expanded to describe the program 

 that would be undertaken to reduce marine mam- 

 mal mortalities and injuries incidental to commer- 

 cial fishing operations to as near zero as practica- 

 ble; and 



• the Service provide, as part of the proposal and 

 Legislative Environmental Impact Statement, draft 

 legislative language illustrating how the proposed 



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