61 



clearly would have a negligible effect on population 

 size and productivity; and (2) ongoing or planned 

 assessment, monitoring, and enforcement programs are 

 adequate to ensure that the authorized level of take 

 will not be exceeded, the status of the affected 

 species or population stock will be determined with 

 reasonable certainty within 3-5 years, and possible 

 ways to avoid or reduce the level of incidental take 

 will be identified and implemented; 



• streamline and continue the vessel registration 

 and reporting programs initiated under the 1988 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act eunendments; 



• grant explicit authority to the Secretary of 

 Commerce to place observers aboard any commercial 

 fishing vessel operating in U.S. waters; and 



• provide necessary funding or authorize the 

 collection of user fees sufficient for observer 

 and other marine mammal monitoring programs. 



The Commission's recommended guidelines assumed that, at the 

 end of the five-year exemption period, sufficient information 

 would be available to accurately estimate the level of incidental 

 take in various fisheries, the status of the affected marine 

 mammal stocks, and the level of take that could be permitted 

 without causing the affected populations to be reduced or 

 maintained below their optimum sustainable population level. 

 When it transmitted the recommended guidelines to the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, the Commission noted that the 

 assumption would not be valid unless additional population 

 assessments were undertaken promptly by the Service. 



The Commission also noted that marine mammals may be 

 affected indirectly as well as directly by commercial fisheries 

 — e.g., by competition for the same prey species. To address 

 this problem, the Commission recommended that the Service 

 promulgate regulations under the Fishery Conservation and 

 Management Act requiring Fishery Management Councils to assess 

 and take into account the food requirements (and uncertainties 

 related thereto) of marine mammals and other non-target species 

 when calculating the optimal yield of fishery resources. Towards 

 this end, the Commission recommended that the Service organize 

 and hold a workshop or series of workshops to identify and 

 evaluate possible procedures for assessing interactions and 

 ensuring that fisheries do not directly or indirectly 

 disadvantage marine mammal populations. The Commission 

 suggested, among other things, that the workshops consider the 

 establishment of: thresholds below which exploitation of fish 

 stocks should be prohibited; guidelines and procedures for 



69-350 0-93 



