resulting from coastal development, offshore oil and gas 

 development, and other human activities. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible, under 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act, for assuring that live-capture 

 and removals do not have significant adverse effects on 

 individual bottlenose dolphins or the populations of which they 

 are a part. To help meet this responsibility, the Service, in 

 consultation with the Commission, developed and, in 1977, adopted 

 a system for regulating the number of bottlenose dolphins 

 authorized to be taken annually from specified management areas. 

 The system is based on four assumptions: (1) there are localized 

 populations of bottlenose dolphins in the coastal areas from 

 which dolphins are taken for purposes of public display and 

 scientific research; (2) the populations are at or near historic 

 levels; (3) there are no additional sources of mortality other 

 than natural mortality and live-capture and removal; and (4) the 

 populations will not be reduced below their maximum net produc- 

 tivity (MNP) levels, provided that removals are limited to no 

 more than two percent of the minimum estimated population size. 



In 1978, again in consultation with the Marine Mammal 

 Commission, the Service convened a workshop to determine the 

 information necessary to (a) accurately identify and assess the 

 status of populations that may have already been affected by 

 removal of animals, and (b) better determine the number of 

 animals, by age and sex, that could be taken from various 

 management areas without causing possible local populations to be 

 reduced below their optimum sustainable levels. Subsequently, 

 the Southeast Fisheries Center of the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service developed and initiated a long-range program for 

 assessing and monitoring the number, age/sex composition, and 

 productivity of dolphins in areas where past and current 

 collection activities were concentrated. 



In November 1988, the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 received a request from Ouwenhands Dierenpark, Rhenen, The 

 Netherlands, for authorization to capture four bottlenose 

 dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico and export them to The Netherlands 

 for public display. As required by the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act, on 6 February 1989, the Service forwarded the application to 

 the Commission for review by its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors. Also on 6 February, the Service was petitioned by the 

 Animal Protection Institute of America to hold a public hearing 

 on the Ouwenhands permit application in order to address the 

 unknown cumulative effects of all forms of taking on bottlenose 

 dolphin populations in the Gulf of Mexico. The Service agreed to 

 hold a public meeting on the permit request. 



On 12 April 1989, the Commission wrote to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service commenting on its notice to hold a 

 public hearing on the Ouwenhands application. In its letter, the 



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