On 12 April 1982, the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 responded to the Commission's recommendations, stating that 

 its scientists had determined it would not be possible to 

 conclude the work suggested in the Commission's letter 

 before beginning the 1982 harvest, but that such work was 

 expected to be concluded prior to deliberations on the 

 U.S. position for the 1983 meeting. Additionally, the 

 Service said it was the opinion of their scientists that 

 an end to the male-only harvest was not warranted at that 

 time . 



On 20 May 1982, the Commission received a copy of the 

 report of the U.S. delegation to the 25th meeting of the 

 North Pacific Fur Seal Commission, which had been held 

 13-16 April 1982 in Ottawa, Canada. On 15 June 1982, the 

 U.S. Commissioner to that body responded further to the 

 questions raised in the Commission's 1 April letter, noting 

 that the National Marine Fisheries Service's National 

 Marine Mammal Laboratory was continuing its analysis of 

 the ramifications of fur seal entanglement. Some 

 "tentative" answers to the Commission's specific questions 

 were provided. The Service noted that it was difficult 

 to assess the maximum sustainable productivity level of 

 the Pribilof Islands herd because of an undetermined 

 carrying capacity for the fur seal's ecosystem, but that 

 current information seemed to indicate that the current 

 population level is below carrying capacity and that the 

 population is about one-half of the level observed during 

 the 1950s. The Service also estimated that the Pribilof 

 Islands fur seal population has decreased by approximately 

 seven percent annually over the past few years. 



It was the Service's tentative opinion that the harvest 

 of sub-adult males was in no way contributing to the 

 observed population decline. Furthermore, since no major 

 changes in the harvest regime for sub-adult males has 

 occurred since the 1920s, in the Service's opinion there 

 is an implication that changes in management are not likely 

 to reduce the rate of decline of number of pups for those 

 presently harvested populations that are experiencing 

 declines. The management actions required to reverse these 

 trends are not obvious, the Service stated, and ending or 

 reducing the commercial harvest will not have this effect. 



During 1984, the Interim Convention on Conservation of 

 North Pacific Fur Seals will come up for reconsideration 

 by the parties, who must decide whether to renegotiate the 

 Convention, extend it, or allow it to expire. In 1981, 

 in conjunction with its ratification of the Protocol 

 extending the Convention until 1984, the Senate adopted an 



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