On 17 June 1988, the Commission wrote to the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service recommending that the allegations be 

 investigated. It also recommended that the Service: arrange for 

 independent interviews of returning observers to identify any 

 possible coercion or intimidation by fishermen; publicize the 

 fact that it is illegal to interfere with the performance of an 

 observer's duties; restrict a captain's access to observer logs 

 and data sheets; determine whether reported mortality figures for 

 sundown sets are accurate; re-evaluate the methods used to 

 estimate mortalities and injuries, particularly with respect to 

 the reporting of seriously injured animals; and re-evaluate the 

 need for 100 percent observer coverage as a means of ensuring use 

 of porpoise-saving gear and techniques. On 8 December 1988, the 

 Commission sent a second letter to the Service seeking a response 

 to the allegations made by the former observers. 



On 19 January 1989, the Service replied, noting that it was 

 considering prosecution of some of the alleged violations. In 

 response to the Commission's other recommendations, the Service 

 noted that: all returning observers were interviewed and that an 

 Inspector General investigation of the program found no serious 

 problems related to observer harassment at sea; vessel captains 

 are informed of all regulations, including those pertaining to 

 interference with observers; more confrontations can be avoided 

 than are precipitated by allowing skippers access to observer 

 logs; sundown sets will not be allowed except in very limited 

 situations under the 1988 amendments; the methodology for 

 estimating porpoise mortality, including how to count seriously 

 injured animals, is under review; and the 1988 amendments require 

 100 percent coverage until at least 1992. 



Performance Standards — Late in 1986, the Service began 

 developing regulations to establish performance standards for 

 individual vessels and/or captains in the U.S. tuna fleet 

 concerning incidental porpoise kill rates. The performance 

 standards were intended to address the matter of problem sets 

 that arose in 1986 when certain vessels and/or captains 

 experienced exceptionally high kill rates. 



The American Tunaboat Association voiced strong opposition 

 to implementation of such regulations, stating that "there is no 

 significant, widespread skipper performance problem in the U.S. 

 fleet that supports the complicated and financially burdensome 

 regulatory process instituted by the draft proposed rules." On 8 

 April 1987, the association submitted an alternative proposal, 

 recommending criteria and procedures for evaluating the porpoise 

 mortality performance of vessel operators. Under that proposal, 

 the Expert Skippers Panel would review circumstances surrounding 

 trips in which a problem set occurred, the operator's experience 

 and other relevant factors, and work with operators to improve 

 performance. If performance problems recurred, the Service could 

 suspend the operator's Certificate of Inclusion. 



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