204 



protection of essential habitat, including the habitats 

 essential to early life histories, and consideration of marine 

 species neither harvested nor conserved." 56 



Recognizing the need to address predator-prey 



relationships and other ecological factors in setting fishery 



harvest levels under the Magnuson Act, the Marine Mammal 



Commission in a 1990 report to the Secretary of Commerce on 



the marine mammal incidental take program under the MMPA 



recommended that decision-making under the Magnuson Act follow 



a more comprehensive, ecosystem-based approach. As the 



Commission stated: 



The reference to "ecological factor" in the 

 definition of "optimum yield" is interpreted by 

 the Marine Mammal Commission to mean that, to 

 collectively give effect to the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act and the Magnuson Fishery 

 Conservation and Management Act, the Fishery 

 Management Councils and the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service must insure that estimates of 

 optimal fishery yields take into account food 

 requirements (and uncertainties related 

 thereto) of marine mammals and define 

 "overfishing" to include any fishery-related 

 reductions in fish or shellfish stocks that 

 would result in reduction of marine mammal 

 populations below their maximum net 

 productivity level calculated with respect to 

 abundance prior to fishery development. 57 



56 Id. at 4. 



57 Marine Mammal Commission, Recommended Guidelines to Govern the 

 Incidental Taking of Marine MammalB in the Course of Commercial Fishery 

 Operations After October 1993 , (July 1990). 



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