Commission recommended in its 11 December 1989 letter that the 

 Service immediately insure that the backlog of data be analyzed 

 and reduced for publication, and that the Recovery Team and 

 research program staff consult with outside experts to obtain 

 certain information, analyses, and advice on various research 

 needs. In this regard, the Commission provided the Service with 

 a list of primary research and management tasks. The list 

 identified those tasks the Commission felt could best be 

 undertaken by the monk seal program staff, by outside contract, 

 or by a combination of the two. 



The Commission also identified a series of recommendations 

 regarding specific research tasks. For example, in its letter, 

 the Commission recommended that: research on the mobbing 

 behavior of male seals initially focus on identifying the age 

 classes of seals and the individual animals participating in the 

 mobbing and the principal breeding animals before implementing 

 any responsive management alternatives; consideration be given to 

 extending the Head Start Project to Midway Island; the Service 

 immediately establish a schedule of interagency consultations to 

 mount a program to rebuild the Tern Island seawall and to remove 

 abandoned fuel from the island; the Service seek the advice of 

 the Recovery Team on methods to study at-sea behavior, movements, 

 and energetics of seals; and a population model be developed by 

 program staff in cooperation with outside modeling experts to 

 produce population projections, evaluate management strategies, 

 and identify critical data gaps. 



The Commission's 4-5 December program review also indicated 

 that personnel in the research program needed to pay greater 

 attention to permit compliance and the processing of permits. In 

 this regard, the Commission recommended that all field personnel 

 carry copies of issued permits into the field and that they be 

 given clear written and verbal guidance as to precisely what 

 activities are authorized and what steps should be taken to 

 minimize any disturbance to the seals. The Commission also 

 recommended that the Service's Permit Office afford highest 

 priority for work on monk seals and other endangered, threatened, 

 and depleted species, and that the Recovery Program staff seek 

 permits under the Marine Mammal Protection Act's new "enhance- 

 ment" authority as soon as it becomes appropriate to do so. 



Since adoption of the Recovery Plan in 1983, much work has 

 been undertaken involving captive maintenance and rehabilitation 

 of seals. This work, for the most part, was not contemplated in 

 1983, and procedures and facilities to meet captive maintenance 

 needs have been adapted without the benefit of rigorous review 

 and oversight. Therefore, during the summer of 1989, the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service established an Animal Care 

 Committee. The Committee was charged, among other things, with 

 establishing written guidelines for the care and maintenance of 

 captive Hawaiian monk seals, examining holding facilities, 



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