MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1991 



Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea and signed 

 in June, August, and September 1989, respectively. 

 Canada also was a party to the agreement with Japan. 

 All three agreements were renegotiated in 1990 and 

 1991 and are effective until 30 June 1992, the effec- 

 tive date for a global moratorium on large-scale 

 pelagic driftnet fishing called for in United Nations 

 General Assembly Resolution 44/225 (see "Other 

 International Actions," below). Each agreement 

 provided for a two-year phase-in of monitoring 

 programs, the details of which were to be negotiated 

 separately prior to each fishing season. 



Advice provided by the Marine Mammal Commis- 

 sion with regard to developing the monitoring pro- 

 grams is discussed in previous Annual Reports. As 

 provided in the agreements, the monitoring programs 

 address the training and placement of agreed numbers 

 of observers from each country aboard a representa- 

 tive portion of each nation's driftnet fishing fleet. 

 The agreements also address the types of data to be 

 collected, the form in which they are to be gathered 

 and recorded, how they are to be summarized, and the 

 form in which they are to be released to the public. 

 The enforcement agreements establish area and 

 seasonal closures to diminish the take of U.S. salmon, 

 require the placement of satellite transmitters on 

 driftnet fishing vessels so they can be located on a 

 real-time basis, and address vessel boarding and 

 inspection rights. 



In 1989, the only monitoring program implemented 

 was a pilot program involving about four percent of 

 die Japanese squid driftnet fleet. Separate monitoring 

 programs involving selected vessels from each nation 

 were carried out in 1990. The 1991 programs were 

 renegotiated on the basis of experience gained in 

 1990, and the arrangements were set forth in ex- 

 changes of letters with Taiwan on 16 April 1991, with 

 Japan on 23 April 1991, and with the Republic of 

 Korea on 8 May 1991. 



The 1990 Driftnet Fishing Seasons 



On 14 June 1991, the Governments of Japan, 

 Canada, and the United States jointly released a 

 summary report of results from the May-December 

 1990 Japanese squid driftnet monitoring program. 

 The 1990 monitoring program placed 35 U.S., 10 



Canadian, and 29 Japanese observers aboard 74 

 fishing vessels. Catch and bycatch data were recorded 

 for 2,879 net retrievals representing about 12 percent 

 of Japan's squid driftnet fishing operations. 



The target catch in the observed portion of Japan's 

 squid driftnet fishery included 7.9 million squid. The 

 bycatch included 3.2 million Pacific pomfret, 81,956 

 blue sharks, 90,011 albacore tuna, 162,631 skipjack 

 tuna, 9,747 salmon, 499 billfish, 30,464 seabirds, 545 

 North Pacific fur seals, 840 northern right whale 

 dolphins, 459 Pacific white-sided dolphins, 318 Ball's 

 porpoise, 1 19 other dolphins, and 35 sea turties. It is 

 reasonable to assume that significant numbers of 

 animals were killed or seriously injured in the nets, 

 but fell out during net retrieval before being counted. 



Results of the 1990 monitoring programs for 

 Taiwan's squid and large-mesh driftnet fisheries and 

 for Korea's squid driftnet fishery were due to be 

 released in June. However, because of problems in 

 quality control of the data and in the computer pro- 

 grams used to prepare data summaries, they were not 

 released until 10 September and 2 October 1991, 

 respectively. Despite prior training, Taiwanese and 

 Korean observers were not able to identify all species 

 caught. The problems were so substantial that the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that 

 those 1990 program results were not statistically 

 reliable and should not be combined with results from 

 the Japanese monitoring program to assess overall 

 driftnet fishing effects in the North Pacific. 



The 1991 Driftnet Fishing Seasons 



Arrangements for monitoring the 1991 driftnet 

 fishing seasons were negotiated early in 1991. The 

 program with Japan called for placing 30 U.S., 10 

 Canadian, and 21 Japanese observers aboard Japanese 

 squid driftnet fishing vessels to monitor at least 2,626 

 net retrievals. The Taiwanese monitoring program 

 called for placing 11 observers from the American 

 Institute in Taiwan and 9 observers from the Coordi- 

 nation Council for North American Affairs aboard 

 Taiwanese driftnet fishing vessels to monitor at least 

 105 net retrievals. The Korean program called for 

 placing 13 U.S. and 13 Korean observers aboard 

 Korea's squid driftnet fishing vessels to monitor at 



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