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Dr. Nancy Foster, Page 2 July 14, 1993 



The proceedings of this conference are now being published by 

 the MAic. As loon aa they become available, I will make' sure that 

 you receive a copy. The results of the seminar confirmed that, 

 even though all Available non-lethal means of deterrence are being 

 employed, the periodic intentional lethal take of individual seals 

 is a necessary tool for the continued success of this industry. 



Because this marine mammal/commercial fisheries interaction is 

 of concern to this new Maine fishing industry, the MAA asked me to 

 participate in the discussions between fishing industry and 

 environmental organization representatives that began in February, 

 and concluded recently, when two proposals to amend the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act were communicated to Capitol Hill. 



The second of these proposals, which concerns the "Intentional 

 Lethal Taking of Pinnipeds", does not meet the needs of Maine's 

 finfish aquaculture industry. A copy is enclosed. Even though the 

 MAA participated in these facilitated discussions for more than 

 three months, our efforts to develop a regulated permitting system 

 - that would allow for the Intentional lethal taking of animals to 

 protect gear and catch in the marine finfish aquaculture industry - 

 ultimately failed. 



Today, we must work with the National Marine Fisheries Service 

 and the Congress to develop a process - before the seasonal 

 behavior of some harbor and gray seals needs to be deterred again 

 this winter - that will be successful. Both Congress and NMFS has 

 a record of supporting the limited intentional lethal taking of 

 abundant marine mammals to mitigate a demonstrable significant 

 negative impact to a fishery. 



In order to avoid this outcome, we ask that NMFS immediately 

 establish an informal, regional "Intentional Lethal Taking Task 

 Force" . This group would begin to meet to consider the possible 

 authorization of a general permit for the salmon netpen industry. 



The suggestion that regional task forces be established to 

 consider permit applications for the taking of some animals is 

 supported in the second "agreement" between some environmentalist 

 and fishery groups to which I referred earlier. We believe that 

 NMFS has the existing authority to begin to examine this problem 

 today. 



This "agreement" also would require the assistance of a 

 "wildlife management agency" in the taking. 



