In 1979, the Commission initiated a general assessment 
of the Bureau's Environmental Studies Program as it related 
to marine mammals. The assessment was completed in early 
1980 and the Commission transmitted its comments and recommendations 
for improving the program to the Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management by letter of 7 May 1980. The Commission 
indicated the types of determinations that should be made by 
the Bureau in carrying out the program so as to meet the 
intents of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, identified the 
information needed to make those determinations, and noted 
the need to strengthen certain aspects of the Bureau's 
environmental studies and assessment programs. In order to 
achieve these goals, the Commission recommended that the 
Bureau: 
designate appropriately qualified persons in 
its Washington, D.C. office and each of the 
regional OCS offices to be responsible for 
planning, coordinating, and overviewing marine 
mammal-related studies; 
- in consultation with the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, and such other agencies as may be 
appropriate, develop a plan and schedule for 
intra- and inter-agency meetings to plan and 
coordinate marine mammal-related studies on 
both national and regional levels; 
initiate Endangered Species Act consultations, 
when appropriate, sufficiently in advance of 
contemplated actions so that recommendations 
can be incorporated into environmental studies 
plans and lease sale schedules; 
- evaluate and, if necessary, revise existing 
guidelines and procedures used to develop and 
up-date regional studies plans so as to ensure 
that program needs are being identified and 
met effectively; 
- engage appropriately qualified marine mammal 
biologists to help prepare and review all marine 
mammal-related sections in environmental assess- 
ment documents before they are issued so as to 
ensure that the findings and conclusions 
contained therein are justified and based upon 
the best available information; and 
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