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being imported into the United States, a restriction that is often 

 insufficiently supported by biological rationale. 



The Service is considering the need for amendments to section 

 101(b) to address methods and means of harvesting marine mammals, 

 and to ensure consistency with the 1973 International Polar Bear 

 Agreement. Currently, the Act does not contain any restrictions on 

 methods and means for Alaska Native hunters, and therefore may be 

 inconsistent with the 1973 agreement. Thus, we are considering 

 proposing a prohibition on the use of aircraft and large motorized 

 vessels in the taking of polar bear by Alaskan Natives, including 

 the use of any aircraft to locate, land, and shoot polar bear, or 

 in transporting polar bear or polar bear parts taken in violation 

 of the Act. 



We are also reviewing ways to enhance the management provisions of 

 section 101(b) by authorizing the Secretary to initiate the 

 development of harvest restrictions when the population of a 

 species declines to ten percent above the depletion level. The 

 actual implementation of those restrictions would not occur until 

 the species is at the level of depletion. We are considering a 

 process that would maintain the integrity of the Native subsistence 

 exemption while ensuring that a critical regulatory program would 

 be in place at the point of depletion and not years later. 



Initiation of the regulatory process prior to depletion would also 



