Councils and state agencies, must prescribe emergency regulations 

 to prevent, to the extent practicable, any further taking. 



Fishermen engaged in fisheries determined to have only a 

 remote possibility of taking marine mammals need not register 

 with the Service or obtain an exemption certificate. They must, 

 however, report all marine mammal mortalities incidental to their 

 operations to avoid being liable for penalties. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service was required by the 

 amendments to publish, by 22 January 1989, a proposed list of all 

 U.S. fisheries classifying them as category I (those with 

 frequent incidental takes) , category II (those with occasional 

 incidental takes) , or category III (those with either a remote 

 possibility of or no known incidental takes) . After opportunity 

 for public comment, the Service was to publish a final list by 23 

 March 1989, along with information advising vessel owners how to 

 obtain exemptions and otherwise comply with the new provisions. 

 Other Service responsibilities included: establishing an 

 observer program under which 20 to 35 percent of the operations 

 by category I vessels will be monitored; creating an alternative 

 observation program if less than 20 percent of the operations in 

 a category I fishery will be observed; implementing an 

 information management system capable of processing and analyz- 

 ing observer data and reports required from vessel owners engaged 

 in category I and category II fisheries; and consulting with the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service before taking actions or making 

 determinations with respect to marine mammal species under the 

 jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. 



As noted above, the interim exemption was intended to govern 

 marine mammal/ fishery interactions for a five-year period. After 

 that, Congress will re-examine the issue in light of the infor- 

 mation gathered under the interim exemption and enact a permanent 

 system under which incidental taking will be regulated. As a 

 first step in developing the long-term regulatory regime, the 

 Marine Mammal Commission was statutorily directed to transmit to 

 the Secretary of Commerce, by 1 February 1990, recommended 

 guidelines to govern the incidental taking of marine mammals in 

 the course of commercial fishing operations after 1 October 1993. 



As a first step in implementing the interim exemption for 

 commercial fisheries, the Service, after consultation with the 

 Commission, published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on 

 27 January 1989. That notice provided a general description of 

 the new statutory provisions and a proposed categorization for 

 each U.S. fishery, based upon the frequency with which marine 

 mammals were estimated to be taken incidentally. Fourteen 

 fisheries were proposed for inclusion in category I, either 

 because Congress specifically recommended such a listing or 

 because "sufficient documented information" existed to indicate a 

 frequent incidental take of marine mammals in the fishery. 



