undertake certain studies if funds were provided by the 
Commission; decisions on other studies should be postponed 
until after the first meeting of the Monk Seal Recovery 
Team; the Service was in the process of hiring a recovery 
team leader and appointing a recovery team; and a completion 
date for the monk seal recovery plan could not be projected. 
The Commission also was advised that the Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement concerning designation of critical habitat 
for the Hawaiian monk seal was almost finished and would be 
sent to the Commission for review and comment. Representatives 
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advised the Commission 
that certain proposals for research in the Hawaiian Islands 
National Wildlife Refuge were under review, pursuant to 
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, to determine whether 
they might have an adverse effect on monk seals, and that a 
study was being conducted to identify and evaluate alternative 
uses for the abandoned Coast Guard station on Tern Island. 
After the 21-22 February meeting, the Commission took 
steps to implement the plan. Among other things, it drafted 
a scope of work for Laysan Island monk seal studies, and, by 
letter of 3 March 1980, forwarded it, as well as a proposed 
inter-agency agreement to transfer $50,000 to the Service 
for support of the study. Also, since all the information 
requested in its 27 December letters had not been provided 
by the two Services prior to or during the February meeting, 
the Commission wrote them again on 7 March. In its letter 
to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Commission 
noted that it remained uncertain as to: the details of 
certain studies being conducted or planned by the Service; 
how much financial assistance would be needed from the 
Commission in order to undertake certain activities; the 
Service's views as to other field research which could and 
should be conducted in 1980 and how it might contribute to 
those efforts; how much the Service had budgeted for monk 
seal-related activities in fiscal year 1981; who had been 
invited and agreed to become members of the Monk Seal Recovery 
Team; when the recovery team was expected to begin meeting; 
and when the recovery plan was expected to be completed, 
reviewed, adopted, and implemented by the Service. 
The Commission's 7 March letter to the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service requested that, before taking any action, 
the Service give the Commission and the National Marine 
