Chapter III — Marine Mammal/Fisheries Interactions 



fishery in category II, pending a revised analysis of 

 the stock structure for bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf 

 of Mexico. 



In addition, the Service proposed name changes for 

 the northeast multi-species sink gillnet fishery and the 

 North Carolina haul seine fishery to reflect target 

 species and geographical boundaries more accurately. 



The Service also invited comment on certain 

 fisheries for which no changes in classification were 

 proposed. The Atlantic Scientific Review Group, 

 established under section 117 of the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act, recommended that the Service consid- 

 er reclassifying the Atlantic squid, mackerel, and 

 butterfish trawl fishery as a category I fishery because 

 estimated mortalities and serious injuries exceed the 

 potential biological removal level for pilot whales and 

 common dolphins. The Service, however, declined to 

 adopt this recommendation, noting that there was 

 substantial uncertainty with respect to those estimates. 

 The Service indicated its intention to reevaluate the 

 estimates of marine mammal mortality that occurs 

 incidental to this fishery based on data from the 1997 

 season before proposing any listing change. 



In April 1998 the Pacific Scientific Review Group 

 recommended that the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service reclassify the category III Hawaii swordfish, 

 Uina, billfish, mahimahi, wahoo, and oceanic sharks 

 longline-set line fishery as a category II fishery. This 

 recommendation was based on the observed mortality 

 and serious injury of several species of cetaceans. In 

 declining to adopt the review group's recommenda- 

 tion, the Service noted that it had been unable to 

 calculate the potential biological removal level for 

 most of these stocks because their abundance in 

 Hawaiian waters was unknown. The Service also 

 noted that most of the marine mammals taken in this 

 fishery had been released alive, albeit with injuries. 

 The Service therefore believed that it was premature 

 to include this fishery in category II until it had 

 published guidelines for determining what constitutes 

 a serious injury. 



The Service also indicated that it was not proposing 

 a change in the listing of the category III Atlantic 

 Ocean, Gulf of Mexico blue crab trap/pot fishery 

 despite evidence that bottlenose dolphins and manatees 



are incidentally entangled in this gear. The Service 

 explained that most manatees are disentangled and 

 released alive. As for bottlenose dolphins taken in 

 this fishery, the Service believed that the required 

 analyses could not be done until the stock structure of 

 this species is better understood. 



In addition to proposing revisions to the list of 

 fisheries for 1999, the 11 August 1998 Federal 

 Register notice proposed several technical modifica- 

 tions to the regulations implementing section 1 18 of 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



Take Reduction Plans — As noted above, section 

 118 requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to 

 develop a take reduction plan for each strategic stock 

 that interacts with a fishery that frequently or occa- 

 sionally kills or seriously injures marine mammals 

 {i.e., a category I or category II fishery). It directs 

 the Service to establish take reduction teams to take 

 the lead in developing take reduction plans. These 

 teams are to include members representing federal 

 agencies, affected coastal states, appropriate fishery 

 management councils, interstate fishery commissions, 

 academic and scientific organizations, environmental 

 groups, the commercial and recreational fishermen 

 that incidentally take the species or stock, and any 

 affected Alaska Native or Indian tribal organizations. 



Where human-caused mortality and serious injury 

 of a stock are believed to be equal to or greater than 

 the stock's potential biological removal level, a take 

 reduction team is to prepare and submit to the Service 

 a draft take reduction plan within six months of the 

 team's establishment. For other strategic stocks, draft 

 take reduction plans are to be submitted within 11 

 months of the team's establishment. Within 60 days 

 of receiving a draft take reduction plan, the Service is 

 to publish the plan in the Federal Register, along with 

 any proposed changes and proposed regulations to 

 implement the plan, for public review and comment. 

 After a public comment period of no more than 90 

 days, the Service has 60 days in which to publish a 

 final take reduction plan and implementing regula- 

 tions. After publication of the final plan, take reduc- 

 tion teams are to continue to meet to monitor the 

 plan's implementation. 



Ill 



