California Coastal Program 



Efforts to determine the nature and extent of marine 

 mammal-fisheries conflicts in California coastal waters have 

 been underway since 1979 as a cooperative project of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service and the California Department 

 of Fish and Game. Preliminary results of the first two 

 years of the study, discussed at the Commission's 1981 

 workshop, indicated that two major problem areas involved 

 seals and sea lions interacting with salmon fisheries and 

 pilot whales interacting with the purse seine fishery for 

 squid . 



The two components of the California Coastal Program — 

 a management component administered by the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service's Southwest Region Office and a research 

 component administered by the Southwest Fisheries Center — 

 were discussed at the 13 August 19 82 program review which 

 the Commission had requested. Objectives of the research 

 program include, among other things, assessment and monitoring 

 the numbers of seals, sea lions, pilot whales, and other 

 marine mammals being taken incidentally in California 

 coastal fisheries and identification and evaluation of 

 possible mitigating methods and technologies. During the 

 program review, the Commission expressed its uncertainty as 

 to whether, from a management perspective, the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service had identified the precise types 

 and quality of data needed to make necessary determinations 

 of optimum sustainable population levels and whether ongoing 

 or planned research would provide this information. The 

 Commission suggested that the Service conduct a review, and 

 consult with the California Department of Fish and Game and 

 public interest groups to assure that programmatic needs and 

 priorities have been defined appropriately. 



At the program review, it was noted that recent studies 

 of newly developing gill net fisheries, such as those for 

 shark, halibut, and croaker, have confirmed that several 

 species of marine mammals including sea otters, as well as 

 marine birds and other fish species, are being taken incidentally 

 in these fisheries. Efforts to assess the nature and extent 

 of this incidental take have been initiated by the California 

 Department of Fish and Game, and several Federal and non- 

 governmental agencies are considering or have underway 

 programs which could provide more information. In order to 

 assure that the maximum benefit is obtained from these 

 studies, the Commission in 1982 provided funds to the 

 California Department of Fish and Game to support efforts to 

 identify ways of expediting the collection of needed data on 

 this marine mammal-fisheries conflict (see Chapter II, Research 

 and Studies Program) . Results of this study are expected to 

 be available in spring 1983. 



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