Commission noted that information put forward during the hearing 

 may affect this and future permit applications regarding 

 bottlenose dolphins, and the Commission therefore was suspending 

 consideration of this and future applications to take bottlenose 

 dolphins from the Gulf of Mexico until the hearing had been held, 

 the information obtained was evaluated and the Service had 

 completed and provided to the Commission its assessments of: 

 (a) the status of the affected dolphin stocks; and (b) the 

 effectiveness of the Service's special management and research 

 programs to insure that the stocks are not disadvantaged by such 

 taking. 



The Commission noted that, among other things, the Service's 

 assessments should include evaluation of: (1) the appropriate- 

 ness of the geographic management units currently being used; 

 (2) the assumption that each designated management stock is near 

 the upper limit of its optimum sustainable population range and 

 will not be reduced below its maximum net productivity (MNP) 

 level as long as the annual removal from the stock is two percent 

 or less of the minimum estimated stock size; (3) the adequacy of 

 existing stock estimates and monitoring programs; (4) the 

 adequacy of existing incidental take data and planned or proposed 

 report verification programs; (5) the theoretical merits and 

 practical value of the two percent rule; and (6) the possible 

 effects of chase and capture on bottlenose dolphins. 



Coincidentally, by letter also dated 12 April 1989, the 

 Service forwarded to the Commission its most recent review of 

 quotas for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins in southeast regional 

 waters. The review included: (1) an updated assessment of 

 minimum population levels for established and proposed quota 

 areas; (2) a review of the current management procedure (the two 

 percent quota rule) ; (3) a review of the total take by management 

 area and year; and (4) updated quota recommendations. In its 

 letter, the Service noted that it was planning a review of the 

 quota system for removal of Tursiops in the waters of the 

 southeast United States. 



Earlier in 1989, the Service had determined that it would be 

 advisable to undertake a detailed review of the bottlenose 

 dolphin research program as part of a broader review of the 

 Southeast Fisheries Center's marine mammal program. A number of 

 issues raised in the Commission's 12 April letter were addressed 

 during the review, held on 2-3 May. 



Representatives of the Marine Mammal Commission participated 

 in that meeting. Subsequently, the Commission, in consultation 

 with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, reviewed the back- 

 ground material provided for the program review, including the 

 updated population assessments and revised quota recommendations. 

 By letter of 23 May 1989, the Commission provided comments to the 

 Service. In its letter, the Commission noted that the assess- 



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