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focus of a Conservation Team which may be established to consider 

 the viability of the east coast harbor porpoise population, we are 

 confident that - under the negotiated critical stock regime - our 

 fishery will be recognized as already operating at an insignificant 

 level of incidental mortality and serious injury rate of these 

 animals . 



With this negotiated proposal, because the use of permits and 

 observers would be optional and used only where critical 

 interactions are known to occur, our herring fishery would 

 essentially maintain its existing Category III status. Under the 

 Interim Exemption Program, no MMPA regulation of our fishery was 

 found to be necessary. There is no evidence that supports any 

 additional regulation in the future. 



Monitoring Incidental Lethal Takes 



We are opposed to the requirement in the Committee's draft 

 bill that the Secretary shall place observers in each fishery 

 operating under the general authorization to fish, in order to 

 verify incidental lethal takes. 



During the Interim Exemption Program, and in the negotiated 

 critical stock proposal, nothing restricts the NMFS from placing 

 observers in any fishery which may be of concern to the government. 

 As a practical matter, the NMFS has placed observers in Category I 

 and Category II fisheries in recent years where significant 

 interactions between commercial fishing activities and marine 

 mammals are known to occur. 



According to officials of the NMFS, during the past three 

 years, some $24 million has been spent on observers in the Interim 

 Exemption Program. This expense has only resulted in a 6-10% 

 coverage of Category I and II vessels in the U.S. 



By requiring the Secretary to place some observers in each 

 fishery, valuable resources will undoubtedly be drawn away from 

 fisheries interactions which may be significantly impacting a 

 marine mammal stock. By focusing on the remote likelihood of 

 takes, the protection of critical stocks will be undermined. 



It is with this understanding in mind that the negotiated 

 critical stock regime allows a Conservation Team to recommend the 

 use of observers where problems are known to be, or are suspected 

 to be, occurring. We urge you to reconsider this more cost 

 effective approach to the use of observers. 



During our negotiations, it was widely recognized that the 

 reporting of incidental lethal takes needs to be improved. It was 

 also recognized that at least part of the problem lies in the NMFS 

 not making simplified, standard reporting forms widely available to 

 the commercial fishing industry. Not only were some fishing people 



