"effective conservation and management measures" are taken to 

 regulate these fisheries. By calling for joint analyses of the 

 conservation and management measures taken by driftnet fishing 

 countries, the resolution places pressure on those countries that 

 permit driftnet fishing to prove that the use of driftnets on the 

 high seas is ecologically acceptable. It thereby encourages 

 research and monitoring to better document the impact of this 

 technology on marine resources. 



The Commission will continue to review and provide advice to 

 the Departments of Commerce and State on actions needed to better 

 assess and prevent marine mammal and other marine resource 

 conservation problems being caused by pelagic driftnet fisheries. 



Interactions off Alaska 



To address interactions between marine mammals and fisheries 

 in Alaska, the Commission, among other things, works with the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service and the North Pacific Fisheries 

 Management Council on developing and modifying fishery management 

 plans for relevant fisheries. Past efforts in this regard are 

 discussed in previous Annual Reports. Activities undertaken in 

 1989 are discussed below. 



King and Tanner Crab Fishery 



By letter of 6 March 1989, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service asked the Commission to comment on an environmental 

 assessment and proposed fishery management plan for commercial 

 king and tanner crab fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

 Islands areas. The document noted that, on rare occasions, sea 

 otters are drowned in crab pots set in shallow nearshore waters 

 where fishing activity and sea otters overlap. It proposed 

 delegating management authority to the State of Alaska and 

 included measures for fishery observers and data reporting. 



As noted in Chapter II of this Report, amendments to the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act governing the incidental take of 

 marine mammals by commercial fishermen were signed into law in 

 November 1988. In January 1989, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service published proposed rules to implement the new provisions. 

 Those rules established a new system for authorizing the take of 

 marine mammals, receiving reports from commercial fishermen on 

 marine mammal/fishery interactions, and placing observers aboard 

 fishing vessels to record data on interactions. 



The document forwarded by the Service did not discuss or 

 identify the requirements of the 1988 amendments to the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act. Therefore, by letter of 2 March 1989, 

 the Commission, in consultation with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, recommended to the Service that the assessment and plan 



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