Carolina. The gillnet fishery-related bycatch of this stock exceeds that of any other cetacean 

 stock in U.S. waters. Estimates are that more than 1,500 porpoises were killed in gillnets off 

 New England and the mid- Atlantic coastal states in 1997. The stock's potential biological 

 removal level {i.e., the number of animals that can be killed annually, not including natural 

 mortality, while still allowing the stock to increase toward or remain at its optimum sustainable 

 population) is calculated to be 483 porpoises per year. The Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 required the National Marine Fisheries Service to reduce bycatch to below the stock's potential 

 biological removal level by April 1997, but progress has been slow and relatively ineffective. 

 Although the Service published a proposed take reduction plan for New England fisheries in 

 August 1997, action on the plan was deferred and eventually the matter was raised in a lawsuit 

 in August 1998. 



In September 1998 the Service proposed a new take reduction plan. For New England, 

 it proposed an expansion of existing time-area management zones in high bycatch areas, seasonal 

 prohibition of gillnet fishing in some zones, and the required use of acoustic deterrent devices, 

 called pingers, in other zones. For the mid-Atlantic area, the plan proposed a time-area fishing 

 closure, limits on the number and length of nets, and certain gear restrictions, such as minimum 

 twine diameters, for nets. Previously, there had been no take reduction measures for this area. 

 Noting that the plan appeared to underestimate past bycatch levels in the mid-Atlantic and to 

 overestimate the likely effectiveness of pingers in New England, the Commission concluded in 

 October 1998 that stronger take reduction measures were needed and recommended requiring 

 the use of pingers in all New England waters where harbor porpoises might be found and 

 perhaps expanding some time-area fishing closures. The Service's final plan for New England, 

 published on 2 December 1998, did not adopt these recommendations. 



In November 1998 the Commission reviewed the Service's harbor porpoise take reduction 

 plans and provided comments thereon on 8 December 1998. Although commending the Service 

 for the steps it was taking to produce bycatch estimates more quickly, train fishermen in the use 

 of pingers, plan a new harbor porpoise population survey for 1999, expand fishery observer 

 efforts in the mid-Atlantic area, and address enforcement needs, the Commission also noted that 

 information presented at the review confirmed that bycatch levels were higher in the mid- 

 Atlantic area than assumed in the plan, and that using pingers at some times and in some areas 

 has been less effective than assumed by the Service. The Commission therefore continued to 

 reconmiend stronger take reduction measures to reduce bycatch below the stock's calculated 

 potential biological removal level, that the Service consult with fishermen to develop an 

 improved pinger design, and that the Service undertake smdies to better document the sound 

 characteristics of pingers that are most effective in deterring harbor porpoises. 



On 22 October 1998 the Service reopened the comment period on a proposal it had first 

 made in 1993 to list the east coast harbor porpoise stock as threatened under the Endangered 

 Species Act. Action on the proposal had been deferred pending further take reduction efforts 

 and new information. In its 8 December 1998 letter, the Commission recommended that the 

 Service aimounce its intent to proceed with the action if the adopted take reduction measures did 



vu 



