The Commission had hoped that either it or the National 
Marine Fisheries Service would be able to continue to support 
the Copper River Delta/Prince William Sound study; however, 
neither agency had funds to do so in either 1979 or 1980. 
Although the Commission also had planned to convene workshops 
to assess the nature and extent of marine mammal-fishery 
interactions in New England, Florida, and Hawaii, funding 
and staffing levels limited the Commission to organizing and 
convening only one workshop which treated East Coast cetaceans 
and pinnipeds (see p. 10 of the Commission's Annual Report 
Bob amas WAL) We 
Participants in that workshop concluded, among other 
things, that available information was insufficient to 
determine what remedial measures, if any, might be needed to 
eliminate marine mammal-fishery conflicts along the East and 
Gulf Coasts. They noted, as did participants in the December 
1977 workshop, that many fishermen were not obtaining "incidental 
take" permits or reporting incidental take, and that lack of 
reliable information on the nature and extent of incidental 
take could be attributed, in part, to the permit requirement 
and procedures. They recommended that a comprehensive 
research program be undertaken to assess the nature and 
extent of marine mammal-fishery conflicts along the East and 
Gulf Coasts and that the National Marine Fisheries Service 
re-evaluate and modify permit procedures, as necessary, to 
assure that marine mammals taken during commercial fishing 
operations are reported and subsequently made available to 
researchers for study. They also recommended that certain 
other research be undertaken and actions on these recom- 
mendations are described elsewhere in this report. 
The report from the workshop (see Appendix B) was used 
to develop a preliminary research plan (see Chapter II) 
which included an assessment of marine mammal-fishery interactions 
in the northeast and southeast. By letter of 24 April 1980, 
both documents were forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries 
Service, and the Service subsequently contracted with the 
University of Maine to start an assessment of marine mammal- 
fishery interactions in the northeast. The Service also 
reviewed its permitting procedures, and, on 10 December 
1980, proposed modifications to increase the potential for 
obtaining data relevant to the incidental catch of marine 
Mammals in commercial fishing operations. 
