in this regard, the Service, by letter of 27 May 1988, advised 

 the Commission that it was considering re-establishing the 

 Southern Sea Otter Recovery Team to assist in evaluating and 

 updating the Plan. It asked the Commission to suggest possible 

 candidates to serve on the Recovery Team. 



The Commission considered the Service's request and, by 

 letter of 17 June 1988, advised the Service that it agreed it 

 would be desirable to review efforts to implement the Southern 

 Sea Otter Recovery Plan and to determine what should be done to 

 update and improve implementation of the Plan. The Commission 

 questioned, however, whether re-establishment of the Recovery 

 Team was the best way to accomplish this. The Commission noted 

 that care must be taken not to compromise either the under- 

 standings that led to Public Law 99-625 or the agreements and 

 programs subsequently developed to implement the Southern Sea 

 Otter Translocation Plan. The Commission suggested that it might 

 be more effective to conduct an in-house review of the Plan, in 

 consultation with the Commission and the California Department of 

 Fish and Game, update the Plan accordingly, and then convene a 

 series of meetings with representatives of other Federal 

 agencies, State agencies, and private and public interest groups 

 to agree on who should be taking the identified steps to 

 implement the revised Plan. The Commission noted that, if this 

 approach were adopted, it should be possible to complete the 

 update by the end of the year, to organize and hold planning and 

 coordination meetings in January and February 1989, and to 

 complete and adopt a Comprehensive Implementation Plan by April 

 or May of 1989. 



On 20 April 1989, the Fish and Wildlife Service responded to 

 the Commission's 17 June 1988 letter. In its response, the 

 Service noted that it agreed with the Commission that care must 

 be taken not to compromise existing understandings and agreements 

 affecting protection and management of the southern sea otter 

 population. The Service indicated that an important first step 

 in updating the Southern Sea Otter Recovery Plan would be to 

 obtain the latest available information on the biology and 

 ecology of the southern sea otter population, including knowledge 

 gained through the ongoing efforts to reestablish sea otters at 

 San Nicolas Island. The Service further indicated that the 

 reconstituted Southern Sea Otter Recovery Team could best provide 

 an update and evaluation of available information concerning the 

 biology and ecology of the southern sea otter population. For 

 these reasons, the Service said it had reconstituted the Recovery 

 Team and asked it to review and provide updated information on 

 the biology and ecology of the southern sea otter population. 



The reconstituted Southern Sea Otter Recovery Team met on 

 6-7 July 1989 to discuss, among other things, the merits of 

 continuing efforts to establish a sea otter colony on San Nicolas 

 Island. Members of the Recovery Team acknowledged that their 



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