number of animals removed from the wild. The National 
Marine Fisheries Service also developed an inventory system 
to monitor the status of individual animals taken from the 
wild for maintenance at research and public display facilities. 
Such a computer-generated inventory will be sent annually to 
all facilities holding animals under permit, agreement, or 
letter of exemption to be confirmed, corrected, or updated, 
thereby avoiding the need for numerous reports and making it 
feasible to utilize one annual report from each facility 
regarding the condition of all marine mammals maintained. 
This verified inventory will provide management information 
on a continuing basis for all marine mammals maintained, and 
will serve as an aid to both the Service and the Commission 
in the review of permit applications. 
By mid-1980, the annual limits previously established 
for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in 
the waters of the Indian/Banana River complex and west coast 
areas of Florida had been reached and collection of dolphins 
from these areas was not permitted. On 22 July and 15 
September, the National Marine Fisheries Service sought the 
Commission's ad hoc guidance regarding the revision of those 
limits and establishment of revised appropriate levels of 
take for Tursiops in the waters off the west coast of Florida. 
On both occasions, the Commission indicated that data available 
as a result of recent research efforts appeared to indicate 
that increases in the estimated minimum population sizes and 
the annual limits for collection of Tursiops in certain 
areas of Florida's west coast region were warranted and it 
offered tentative recommendations based upon that preliminary 
information. The Commission noted, however, that the responsibility 
for on-going, detailed review and analysis of Tursiops 
population data rests with the Service's Southeast Fisheries 
Center and it therefore recommended that the Center evaluate 
all information available on the abundance, distribution, 
and productivity of Tursiops populations for those areas to 
which such data apply and, based upon such evaluation, 
revise present estimates of minimum population size and 
determinations of annual limits, as appropriate. Information 
received in late 1980 from the Southeast Fisheries Center 
indicated that the Center planned to develop estimates of 
certain Tursiops populations in the southeast region during 
fiscal years 1981 and 1982 and to complete estimates of 
Tursiops populations in the area during fiscal years 1983 
and 1984. 
97)0) 
