Table 5. 
1985 1986 1987 
St. Paul 33384) 1,299 | ‘1,710 
St. George 329 124 92 
Total 3113. od 423 toi 802 
Chapter III — Species of Special Concern 
Subsistence harvest levels for northern fur seals in the Pribilof Islands, 1985-1992' 
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 
1,145°, 153408 1077 64S) 19482 
113 181 164 281 194 
1 258 wiy AGS! 1,241 1,926 1,676 
1 Data provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska Region. 
During 1992 the Service also took steps to modify 
measures governing the way in which the subsistence 
harvest is carried out. Previously on 5 November 
1991 the National Marine Fisheries Service held a 
meeting with representatives of interested Federal and 
State agencies, Aleut residents of the Pribilof Islands, 
other Alaska Native groups, and environmental and 
animal welfare groups to review and re-evaluate the 
methods used to determine subsistence needs and 
measure waste as they apply to subsistence harvests of 
fur seals on the Pribilof Islands. The purpose of the 
meeting was to gather information and recommenda- 
tions to help identify future changes to the harvest 
management regime. As of the end of 1992 the 
Service had not circulated a final report on the results 
of the meeting. However, on 31 July 1992 the Ser- 
vice published a final rule in the Federal Register that 
eliminates the option to extend the Pribilof Islands fur 
seal subsistence harvest beyond 8 August each year. 
In its Federal Register notice, the Service stated 
that it was taking this action in order to provide better 
protection for female fur seals. Since 1985 subsis- 
tence harvests, like commercial harvests before them, 
have been limited to sub-adult males taken on St. Paul 
and St. George Islands between the end of June and 
the second week of August. During this period, 
juvenile male seals occupy areas separated from the 
areas used by adult breeding seals. In early August 
immature female seals, which are difficult to distin- 
guish from immature males, begin arriving at the 
rookeries in large numbers and intermixing with the 
juvenile males. In past years, extension of the harvest 
beyond the first week of August has resulted in the 
take of a small number of juvenile female seals. To 
offset the effect on Aleut sealers of eliminating the 
option to extend the seal harvest beyond 8 August, the 
43 
Service’s final rule advanced the earliest start-up date 
for the harvest from 30 June to 23 June. 
Northern Fur Seal Conservation Plan 
As discussed in previous annual reports, the 
Marine Mammal Commission recommended to the 
National Marine Fisheries Service in 1984 and again 
in 1985 and 1986 that the Pribilof Islands fur seal 
population be designated as depleted under the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act. The National Marine 
Fisheries Service did so in June 1988. In a November 
1985 letter on the matter, the Commission also 
recommended that the Service prepare a conservation 
plan, similar to a recovery plan required for endan- 
gered or threatened species under the Endangered 
Species Act, to help identify and direct priority 
research and management actions needed to restore 
the population. 
Following up on its recommendation, on 6 Decem- 
ber 1985 the Commission sent the Service a suggested 
step-down outline of research and management tasks 
to include in the plan. For several years, no action 
was taken on the Commission’s recommendation 
regarding the conservation plan. In 1988 the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act was amended to require that 
conservation plans be developed for all species or 
populations of marine mammals listed as depleted 
under the Act. The amendments specifically directed 
the Service to prepare a conservation plan for north- 
ern fur seals by 31 December 1989. 
The Service forwarded its draft fur seal conserva- 
tion plan to the Commission in March 1990. On 23 
April 1990 the Commission provided extensive 
comments, noting, among other things, that the 
Service’s plan failed to address management actions 
