Under the proposed observer plan for 1990, the projected 

 funding of $4.5 million would be sufficient to place observers, 

 even at reduced levels, on only the top four or five ranked 

 category I fisheries. Assuming that the Prince William Sound set 

 gillnet fishery would not occur in 1990 because of the Exxon 

 Valdez oil spill, the Service estimated that minimal coverage of 

 the listed category I fisheries would require approximately $6.12 

 million. For Fiscal Year 1990, $7.5 million has been earmarked 

 for the observer program. At the end of the 1989, the Service 

 expected to be able to place observers on board vessels in all 

 category I fisheries during 1990 and, perhaps, in some category 

 II fisheries that take quota species. 



The Marine Mammal Commission was directed by the 1988 amend- 

 ments to make available to the Secretary of Commerce and to the 

 public recommended guidelines to govern the take of marine 

 mammals incidental to commercial fishing operations after 

 1 October 1993, when the interim exemption expires. The 

 Commission has been working on developing those guidelines since 

 July. Late in the year, however, a possible new approach was 

 suggested by members of the Commission's Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors. To provide the needed time to analyze this new 

 approach, the deadline for submission of the guidelines was moved 

 to 30 March 1990. 



Status Reviews and Conservation Plans 



Section 115 of the Act, added by the 1988 amendments, sets 

 forth procedures under which status reviews of marine mammal 

 populations are to be conducted. The amendments authorize 

 interested persons to petition the appropriate Service to 

 undertake a review, specify that status determinations are to be 

 made by rulemaking, and establish time limits for completing each 

 step of the review. In addition, the Services were directed to 

 prepare conservation plans as soon as possible for all depleted 

 species or stocks unless they determine that such a plan will not 

 promote the conservation of the species or stock. The National 

 Marine Fisheries Service was specifically required to complete 

 conservation plans for the North Pacific fur seal by 31 December 

 1989 and for the Steller sea lion by 31 December 1990. 



At the end of 1989, the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 had not provided a proposed conservation plan for the North 

 Pacific fur seal to the Commission or other interested parties 

 for review and it was not clear when it planned to do so (see 

 Chapter III) . It was also unclear what progress had been made by 

 the Service in preparing the Steller sea lion conservation plan. 



