Also, in April 1989, the Alaska Board of Game adopted a 

 measure authorizing the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to 

 control all access to state waters within three miles of Round 

 Island. Subsequently, the Department adopted regulations, 

 effective 1 July 1989, requiring anyone wishing to enter waters 

 within three miles of Round Island to obtain a State permit. At 

 this time, it is the Department's policy to deny permit requests 

 to groundfish fishing vessels. 



Other Problem Fisheries 



As noted in Chapter II, the 1988 amendments to the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act suspended the incidental take permit 

 requirements of the Act until 1 October 1993 for U.S. fishermen. 

 The suspension does not apply to fishermen engaged in the 

 yellowfin tuna purse seine fishery in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific Ocean and foreign fishermen holding valid fishing permits 

 issued under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

 of 197 6. Among other things, the amendments required that the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, in consultation with the 

 Commission, categorize and publish a list of fisheries — along 

 with the marine mammals and number of vessels or persons involved 

 in each fishery — according to the frequency of taking marine 

 mammals incidentally in the fisheries. 



As required, in December 1988, the Service provided and 

 sought Commission comments on a draft list of fisheries. The 

 Commission's comments on the draft list, provided by letter of 13 

 January 1989, were used in part to develop a proposed list of 

 fisheries and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking. This 

 notice was published by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 

 the 27 January 1989 Federal Register to help give effect to the 

 five-year commercial fisheries incidental take permit exemption 

 established by the 1988 amendments. The Commission commented on 

 the proposed fisheries list and related matters in letters of 3 

 March and 10 March to the Service. 



By Federal Register notice of 20 April 1989, the Service 

 published the final list of fisheries, categorized according to 

 the frequency of taking marine mammals incidentally in the 

 fisheries. The notice identified 39 species of marine mammals 

 known to be taken, at least occasionally, in commercial fisheries 

 in U.S. waters. Of the 167 fisheries categorized, 11 were judged 

 to take marine mammals frequently (category I fisheries) , 27 were 

 judged to take marine mammals at least occasionally (category II 

 fisheries) , and the remaining 129 were judged to take marine 

 mammals seldom if ever (category III fisheries) . Fisheries 

 judged to take marine mammals frequently included salmon gillnet 

 fisheries in Alaska, Washington and Oregon; gillnet fisheries for 

 shark, swordfish, and halibut in Washington, Oregon, and 

 California; gillnet fisheries for groundfish and mackerel in the 



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