ultimate need for "zonal" management of sea otters and the need 

 to establish one or more sea otter colonies at a site or sites 

 not likely to be affected by an oil spill in or near the 

 population's current range. The Service concurred with the 

 Commission's recommendation and, as described in previous 

 Commission Reports, initiated efforts in 1981 to identify and 

 evaluate possible translocation sites, develop a translocation 

 plan, and assess the possible environmental and other conse- 

 quences of the proposed action. 



Questions concerning the legal authority for, and other 

 aspects of, the Fish and Wildlife Service's translocation 

 proposal were raised and considered during Congressional hearings 

 on reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act held in the 

 spring of 1985. At the end of 1985, Congress enacted legislation 

 authorizing continued appropriations to the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and other agencies responsible for implementing the Act. 

 As part of this legislation, Congress required that the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service move forward with its decision-making on the 

 proposed sea otter translocation. 



Complying with the Congressional directive, the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service prepared and, on 31 July 1986, issued a Draft 

 Environmental Impact Statement. This document identified 

 translocation of sea otters to San Nicolas Island in the 

 California Channel Islands as the preferred action. On 15 August 

 1986, the Service published proposed experimental population 

 regulations in the Federal Register . 



In the fall of 1986, Congress passed and the President 

 signed Public Law 99-625. This law, which extended the Wetlands 

 Loan Act, included provisions authorizing and encouraging the 

 development and implementation of a plan to establish at least 

 one sea otter colony outside the present sea otter range in 

 California. It required, among other things, that the 

 translocation plan specify a translocation zone that would meet 

 the habitat needs of the translocated animals and provide a 

 buffer against possible adverse activities that might occur 

 outside that zone. It also required that the area surrounding 

 the translocation zone be designated a management zone from which 

 sea otters are to be excluded by non-lethal means. This would 

 protect fishery resources by prohibiting expansion of the sea 

 otter population south of Point Conception. 



The Fish and Wildlife Service's proposal to translocate sea 

 otters to San Nicolas Island was designed to fulfill research as 

 well as management objectives and therefore required a scientific 

 research permit as provided for under the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act. It also constituted a major Federal action under 

 the Coastal Zone Management Act and required a determination of 

 consistency with the California Coastal Management Plan. In 

 addition, to satisfy conditions related to the Endangered Species 



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