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These and other problems will not be resolved by the proposed 

 pinniped task force because they involve roving bands of animals 

 that are not easily identified, not located in a fixed geographic 

 location, and too numerous for the process set forth for the task 

 force. The task force is designed to respond only to individual 

 pinnipeds which have been scientifically identified, and for which 

 information is available that indicates their damaging behavior has 

 become habitual. The task force approach would take one or more 

 years of evaluation or decision-making before wildlife managers are 

 authorized to lethal ly remove the animals. It does not give 

 wildlife managers the flexibility to use non-lethal or lethal means 

 to respond in a timely manner to migrating groups of animals which 

 are damaging other resources in the marine ecosystem. 



The only viable solution is for a waiver of the taking 

 moratorium and a resumption of management activities by Federal, 

 State, Tribal, or other eligible wildlife management authority. A 

 legislative declaration that California sea lions and harbor seals 

 on the West coast are at their optimum sustainable populations is 

 necessary in order to break the impasse and move into a 

 constructive dialogue on how to fashion a reasonable management 

 regime. 



The statutory definition of optimum sustainable population, 16 

 U.S.C. 1362(6), is "the number of animals which will result in the 

 maximum productivity of the population or the species, keeping in 

 mind the carrying capacity of the habitat and the health of the 

 ecosystem of which they form a constituent element". NMFS has 

 attempted to balance the competing portions of this definition, but 

 has met with little success. While choosing to base OSP 

 determinations on "maximum productivity", as required by law, NMFS 

 has not been able to effectively balance the effects of robust 

 mammal populations on the health of the ecosystem. The present 

 system for OSP determinations does not work because it relies too 

 heavily on productive rates while ignoring population size impact 

 on other constituent elements of the marine ecosystem. 



One option is to do nothing and allow the status quo to 

 continue. The Acting Director of NMFS has acknowledged that the 

 agency would not be able to even make an OSP determination for five 

 to ten years. If the reproductive ratee are high at that time, the 

 conclusion of the agency would likely conclude that the California 

 sea lion and harbor seal stocks are below OSP. During the five to 

 ten year period, the populations will continue to explode along the 

 West Coast, and their impact on other marine resources will grow 

 proportionally . 



Another option is to attempt to redefine OSP, stressing the 

 need to restore the balance between the maximum productivity goal 

 and health of the ecosystem. This debate would be long and drawn 

 out. 



