advised the Commission that, although invitations had been issued 

 to Recovery Team members in 1987 and the new team had never met, 

 the Service again was considering reconstituting the Team. 



During the summer of 1989, the Service did so by reissuing 

 invitations to new Team members. The first Recovery Team meeting 

 since December 1984 was subsequently scheduled for 12-14 December 

 1989. To ensure that the meeting focused on the critical issues 

 and that a comprehensive set of recommended actions would be 

 available for its deliberations, the Commission scheduled a 

 Hawaiian monk seal program review for 4-5 December 1989. The 

 program review involved members of the Commission's staff, its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, and representatives of the 

 Service. It was held at the Service's Southwest Fisheries Center 

 in La Jolla, California. 



Among the issues addressed during the meeting were: 

 Recovery Team activities; overall direction and operation of the 

 research program; specific study needs; permit requirements; 

 operation of the Animal Care Committee (see below) ; standards for 

 captive maintenance and veterinary care; personnel; and funding. 

 Immediately after the review, the Commission, in consultation 

 with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, developed a 

 comprehensive set of recommendations, which was sent to the 

 Service by letter of 11 December 1989. Copies were also provided 

 to all members of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Team for 

 consideration at its 12-14 December meeting. 



With respect to the activities of the Hawaiian Monk Seal 

 Recovery Team, the Commission recommended in its letter that the 

 Service direct the Team to: update the recovery plan by 1 March 

 1990; prepare a comprehensive work plan to implement the Recovery 

 Plan by the end of March 1990 or as soon thereafter as possible; 

 evaluate its terms of reference to ensure that it has sufficient 

 latitude to provide the Service with meaningful advice; and 

 establish new research and management priorities based on a 

 thorough review of progress and developments since the Recovery 

 Plan was first adopted in 1983. The Commission also recommended 

 that the Service: (a) appoint a Recovery Team leader who is not 

 directly involved in managing the program so as to minimize 

 demands on his time; (b) expand the Team by adding an experienced 

 marine mammal veterinarian and a physiologist; and (c) publish a 

 schedule of annual Recovery Team meetings for the next four years 

 by 15 January 1990. 



During the program review, it became apparent that the 

 research program had suffered from inadequate outside review, a 

 lack of timely systematic analyses of collected data, limited 

 publication of research results, high turnover in program 

 personnel, and funding limitations that precluded hiring an 

 adequate number of formally trained personnel to do the necessary 

 field and analytic work. To address these deficiencies, the 



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