and the DEIS discussion should be expanded to include a 
fourth option which would combine the 20-fathom and 3-mile 
options. 
With respect to the proposal to designate the Northwestern 
Hawaiian Islands as an "Area To Be Avoided", the Commission 
reviewed the U.S. Coast Guard's proposal to IMCO's Maritime 
Safety Committee, and, in light of the potential effects on 
monk seals of pollution from stranded vessels, expressed its 
full support for the proposal by letter of 3 November. The 
Commission also described the on-going Service and Recovery 
Team efforts to prepare a monk seal recovery plan, and 
suggested that the Coast Guard consult with the Service as 
to how it might help facilitate adoption of the proposal. 
The proposal was considered at the December meeting of 
IMCO's Maritime Safety Committee and a final decision on the 
designation is expected from IMCO in 1981. 
In late November, the Western Pacific Fishery Management 
Council solicited Commission comments on the "Combined 
Fishery Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, and 
Regulatory Analysis for the Spiny Lobster Fisheries of the 
Western Pacific Region", a plan for the spiny lobster fishery 
in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The plan indicates 
that spiny lobsters currently are being harvested in substantial 
numbers in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and that the 
fishery could have direct and indirect effects on the monk 
seal. In early 1981, the Commission will submit its detailed 
comments and recommendations to the Council. 
In summary, by the end of 1980, the National Marine 
Fisheries Service had constituted a Monk Seal Recovery Team 
which had met several times and had started to develop a 
Recovery Plan. The Commission had invested its special 
appropriation to hasten the development and implementation 
of effective monk seal research and management programs and 
had reviewed and commented on various proposed actions 
affecting monk seals. Unfortunately, the Service had made 
no decision regarding critical habitat designation by the 
end of the year, and it was also not clear that the Service 
had programmed sufficient funds to effectively follow up on 
work begun in 1980. 
