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two species. In 1987 Alaska's Kokechik Fisherman's Association 

 and environmental organizations challenged the Dall's porpoise 

 permit, contending that the other two species would inevitably be 

 taken in the fishery. The U.S. District Court ruled in favor of 

 the plaintiffs, invalidating the permit. This now-famous 

 "Kokechik decision" (1) effectively negated NMFS' ability to 

 issue any incidental take permits for non-depleted species in 

 situations where takes of depleted species or animals from stocks 

 of unknown status might also occur, and (2) more importantly, 

 stipulated that marine mammal stocks whose optimum sustainable 

 population has not been determined are to be considered depleted. 



1988 Amendments 



Following the Kokechik decision, quick Congressional action was 

 required to allow domestic fishing operations to continue until a 

 more effective means of managing interactions between fisheries 

 and marine mammals could be determined. At the same time. 

 Congress intended to retain the general goal of the MMPA that the 

 incidental kill or serious injury of marine mammals during 

 commercial fishing operations should be reduced to insignificant 

 levels approaching a zero mortality and serious injury rate. 



The 1988 amendments to the MMPA established a five-year interim 

 exemption from the Act's prohibition on taking marine mammals 

 incidental to U.S. commercial fishery operations other than 

 yellowfin tuna fishing (commercial yellowfin tuna operations are 

 now managed separately, through the International Dolphin 

 Conservation Act enacted in 1992) . NMFS was directed to use the 

 five-year period to collect data on marine mammal stocks and the 

 extent of commercial fishery interactions with those stocks, and 

 to develop -- in consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission, 

 Regional Fishery Management Councils, and other interested 

 parties -- a proposed regime to govern interactions between 

 commercial fishing operations and marine mammals after the 

 exemption expires on October 1, 1993. The amendments required 

 NMFS to submit a final proposal to Congress by January 1, 1992. 



During the interim exemption period, NMFS developed three fishery 

 classifications based on their level of interactions with marine 

 mammals. Category I fisheries are those in which it is highly 

 likely that one marine mammal will be taken by a randomly 

 selected vessel during a 20-day period. Category II fisheries 

 have some likelihood of taking one marine mammal during a 20-day 

 period, and Category III fisheries are those in which it is 

 highly unlikely that any marine mammal will be taken during a 

 20-day period. 



The interim exemption program required vessel owners to register 

 each vessel operating in a Category I or II fishery and to 

 maintain daily logs of fishing effort and incidental takes of 

 marine mammals. NMFS was also required by Congress to place 

 observers on 20-35% of the vessels in Category I. 



