Service that, with one exception, it concurred with the proposed 

 task descriptions and recommended that they be implemented. 



The exception involved support for a task to monitor high 

 seas squid driftnet fishing. The Service proposed placing U.S. 

 observers aboard foreign commercial squid fishing vessels in the 

 North Pacific Ocean to monitor fishing areas, times, catch rates, 

 bycatch, gear loss, etc . The placement of observers had been 

 arranged during negotiations with Japanese officials in the 

 winter of 1987-88. However, it was the Commission's under- 

 standing that those agreements had been voided by subsequent 

 developments prohibiting Japanese salmon driftnet vessels from 

 fishing in U.S. waters. Therefore, in its 23 December letter, 

 the Commission asked the Service if the proposed work were still 

 possible, and, if the study had to be revised or funds 

 reallocated, to provide the Commission descriptions of work to be 

 supported with funds previously directed towards the squid 

 driftnet monitoring study. 



On 13 February 1989, the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 confirmed that earlier arrangements had been voided, and it 

 recommended supporting different tasks related to the high seas 

 driftnet fisheries. The revised work proposed four sub-tasks: 

 placing U.S. observers aboard two commercial squid driftnet 

 vessels; participating in cooperative research cruises with the 

 Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Canada; participating in a 

 research cruise of the R/V Townsend Cromwell ; and continuing 

 cooperation and negotiations on data management, analysis, and 

 reporting with the governments of nations operating driftnet 

 fleets in the North Pacific Ocean. 



On 28 March 1989, the Commission, in consultation with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, responded to the Service's new 

 proposal. The Commission noted that observer coverage of high 

 seas driftnet fishing would be expanded significantly if ongoing 

 negotiations with foreign governments were successful, and that 

 funding for the expanded program would have to come from sources 

 other than the Marine Entanglement Research Program (see Chapter 

 VII) . The Commission agreed, however, that collecting and 

 analyzing data on high seas driftnet fishing in the North Pacific 

 Ocean was urgently needed and, therefore, as an interim measure, 

 it concurred with the recommended allocation of funds to support 

 this task. 



On 6-7 July 1989, the Service convened a meeting in Seattle, 

 Washington, to begin planning for the Fiscal Year 1990 Marine 

 Entanglement Research Program. Representatives of the Commission 

 participated in the meeting and, based on its results, the 

 Service developed a proposed Program Plan that was sent to the 

 Commission for review on 22 November 1989. The Plan recommended 

 allocating $706,000 among 18 tasks. On 22 December 1989, the 

 Commission, in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 



121 



