93 



6 



1 tally lethally taken in the course of commercial fish- 



2 ing operations; and 



3 "(E) research to identify modifications in fish- 



4 ing gear and fishing practices likely to reduce the 



5 mortality and serious injury of marine mammals in- 



6 cidental to commercial fishing operations. 



7 "(2) The Federal Advisory Committee Act shall not 



8 apply to the Scientific Working Group. 



9 "(c) Stock Assessments. — (1) Not later than 120 



10 days after the date of the enactment of the Marine Mam- 



11 mal Protection Act Amendments of 1993, the Secretary 



12 shall provide to the Scientific Working Group established 



13 under subsection (b) a preliminary stock assessment of all 



14 marine mammal populations which occur in waters under 



15 the jurisdiction of the United States. The preliminary 



16 stock assessment shall include — 



17 "(A) the area in which each stock or population 



18 is located; 



19 "(B) the best available estimates of minimum 



20 population abundance, distribution, stock separation, 



21 and current trend; 



22 "(C) estimates of total lethal take by source for 



23 each stock and other factors that may impede recov- 



24 ery of that stock, including impacts on marine mam- 



25 mal habitat and prey; 



•HR 2760 IH 



74-195 0-94-4 



