mammals to the Service within 10 days after returning 
from the trip during which the taking occurred. 
Regulations setting forth the reporting requirements 
under the interim exemption did not become effective 
until 16 January 1990. Even though the reporting 
regulations had yet to enter into force, some 3,500 
annual reports for 1989 were voluntarily submitted, 
based upon the requirements set out in an earlier 
published proposed rule. For 1990, the first year of 
mandatory reporting, just over 12,000 reports were 
filed. That is, about three-fourths of the vessels 
required to submit reports did so. Almost 85 percent 
of the registered vessels required to submit reports for 
1991 have done so, with 10,360 reports having been 
received. 
For 1990, vessels reported over 260,000 marine 
mammal interactions with fishing gear, harassment of 
76,000 marine mammals to deter them from taking 
catch or harming gear, 1,400 marine mammal inju- 
ries, and over 2,200 marine mammal deaths. Reports 
for 1991 indicate nearly 200,000 incidents of marine 
mammals interacting with fishing gear, deterrence by 
fishermen of about 51,000 marine mammals, injuries 
to 623 marine mammals, and 1,340 deaths. Data 
from vessel reports and the observer program indicate 
that most fishery-related marine mammal mortality 
occurs in gillnet fisheries. While vessel reports 
indicate a large number of marine mammal-fisheries 
interactions, many may have been very minor, and in 
some cases may constitute nothing more than obser- 
vations of marine mammals in the vicinity of fishing 
operations. Figures on the number of reports filed by 
Category I and Category II fishermen for 1992 and on 
the reported level of incidental take are not yet 
available. 
Extrapolations based on data from the observer 
program suggest that fishermen’s reports may under- 
estimate marine mammal mortality occurring in at 
least some Category I fisheries, sometimes by consid- 
erable amounts. For some fisheries with relatively 
high observer coverage, the number of mortalities 
actually observed exceeded the number of mortalities 
reported by the fishery as a whole. 
As discussed above, the 1988 amendments required 
establishment of an observer program to monitor 
89 
Chapter IV — Marine Mammal-Fisheries Interactions 
between 20 and 35 percent of the fishing operations 
conducted by Category I vessels. Early in 1989, 
however, it became apparent that funding levels would 
be insufficient even for minimal (20 percent) coverage 
of all designated Category I fisheries. In response, 
the National Marine Fisheries Service established 
criteria for setting priorities for placing observers in 
Category I fisheries based upon (1) whether depleted 
species are taken; (2) the population trends of the 
species taken in the fishery; (3) the annual take rate of 
marine mammals, expressed in terms of population 
percentage; and (4) whether marine mammals for 
which a quota has been established (i.e., Steller sea 
lions and northern fur seals) are taken. The Service 
also decided that, rather than providing straight 20 
percent coverage in the top priority fisheries until 
funds were exhausted, it would consider reduced 
coverage in some fisheries if reliable estimates of 
incidental taking could be made from less than 20 
percent coverage. 
Of the ten fisheries placed in Category I during 
1991, observer coverage in only three exceeded 20 
percent. Observer coverage of the other Category I 
fisheries ranged between 5 and 10 percent. Observer 
coverage levels for 1992 are not yet available. 
Development of a New Regime 
To Govern the Incidental Take of 
Marine Mammals after October 1993 
The interim exemption for commercial fisheries 
was enacted in 1988 to govern marine mammal- 
fisheries interactions for a five-year period. At the 
end of the five-year period, it is expected that the 
interim exemption will be replaced by a new regime 
with a firm scientific rationale for setting take limits 
based on sound principles of wildlife management. 
Congress is expected to begin consideration of the 
new incidental take regime during the first half of 
1993. 
The Commission’s Recommended Guidelines 
As a first step in developing the new regulatory 
regime, the Marine Mammal Commission was direct- 
ed by the 1988 Marine Mammal Protection Act 
