32 



The bill specifically exempts California sea otters from the 

 protective measures described in section 118, relying instead on 

 the ESA and Public Law 99-625 concerning additional sea otter 

 protection. It is not clear if California sea otters would be 

 protected by the MMPA should the population recover sufficiently 

 that they could be removed from threatened status under the ESA. 



SCIENTIFIC WORKING GROUP 



No authorization is given to the Secretary to pay for expenses to 

 members of the Scientific Working Group, Conservation Teams, or 

 the Pinniped Interaction Team. The bill should state that the 

 Secretary may , but is not required to, pay the travel costs of 

 some members of these groups to ensure participation by 

 scientists with the necessary expertise. 



STOCK ASSESSMENTS 



All time periods listed in the legislation would be difficult to 

 meet. For example, members of the Scientific Working Group would 

 be volunteers for this effort. To request that these individuals 

 review more than 60 stock assessment reports and produce a 

 coordinated set of insightful comments within 60 days would be 

 virtually impossible. These scientists have other 

 responsibilities and cannot devote full-time effort to this 

 review. Based upon our experience with peer review groups, the 

 period for their review should be doubled at a minimum. 



