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In June 1991, NMFS issued a Draft Legislative Environmental 

 Impact Statement on a Proposed Regime to Govern Interactions 

 Between Marine Mammals and Commercial Fishing Operations. 

 Following opportunity for public comment, a final report was 

 issued in November of 1992. 



The goal of the proposal is to have all marine mammal stocks 

 reach their optimum sustainable population (OSP) . NMFS proposes 

 that incidental take quotas be determined based on the concept of 

 "Potential Biological Removal" (PBR) : the potential removals from 

 a stock at OSP that could be allowed without disadvantaging the 

 stock. PBRs will be calculated for each marine mammal stock 

 based on available data, and will take all potential removals 

 into account, including incidental takes from commercial domestic 

 and foreign fisheries, captures for public display, and 

 subsistence hunts. PBRs will then be allocated among user 

 groups. 



NMFS proposes that the allocation of PBRs among the various 

 components of the fishing industry should be patterned after the 

 basic procedures provided for allocation of fishery stocks by the 

 Regional Fishery Management Councils under the Magnuson Act. 

 Allocations will be made for all Category I and II fisheries 

 interacting with marine mammal stocks that are depleted, or for 

 which the estimated level of removals is greater than the PBR. 

 Allocations will be based on socio-economic factors, biological 

 considerations, historical take rates, past performance to reduce 

 takes, and ability to reduce takes. 



At a certain level of take, a fishery will be required to adopt 

 management measures to prevent the allocation from being 

 exceeded. If or when allocation levels are exceeded, NMFS 

 proposes a variety of possible actions, including (1) the 

 authority to revoke existing permits or deny new applications; 

 (2) reductions in fishing seasons; or (3) gear, area, or time of 

 day restrictions. 



Reaction and Other Proposals 



Reaction to the NMFS proposal from the fishing industry and the 

 scientific and environmental communities has been mixed. 



The environmental community has questioned NMFS' ability to 

 enforce removals and raised questions regarding public 

 participation in the various allocation and stock assessment 

 processes. Some environmental and animal welfare groups believe 

 the proposal moves away from the zero mortality rate goal of the 

 MMPA. 



