31 



"...it shall be the immediate goal that the incidental kill or 

 serious injury of marine mammals permitted in the course of 

 commercial fishing operations be reduced to insignificant levels 

 approaching zero." NMFS feels that limiting fishing effort would 

 be necessary only to bring removals below Potential Biological 

 Removal (PBR) . Further reduction in the mortality rate could 

 come as a result of research into fishing technology, techniques, 

 and practices rather than a specified rate of progress in 

 approaching zero mortality rate. The fruits of this research 

 would likely be represented by a step function, in which a major 

 decline in mortality rate would be followed by a protracted 

 period in which the mortality rate is level. Furthermore, rates 

 of incidental mortality and serious injury are very low in many 

 fisheries. Detecting a statistically significant reduction in 

 this rate would be difficult, if not impossible. 



TAKING OF MARINE MAMMALS INCIDENTAL TO COMMERCIAL FISHING 

 OPERATIONS 



The bill states that this section "shall govern the incidental 

 taking of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing 

 operations by persons using vessels of the United States and 

 vessels which have valid ..." permits issued under 204(b) of the 

 Magnuson Act. The statement should be clarified by replacing the 

 word "and" with "or." Otherwise, it is possible to interpret the 

 passage as applying only to those persons who operate vessels 

 that pass both tests (U.S. registry and Magnuson permits). 



