208 



depleted these animals, thus shifting the economic focus to 

 fisheries. While initially salmon, herring, halibut and crab 

 were the primary catch, within the past 30 years, pollock has 

 become by far the most significant fishery in the Bering Sea. 63 



Since the mid-1970s, a number of the Bering Sea's 

 populations of marine mammals, seabirds and waterfowl have 

 suffered dramatic declines in their numbers. Of the marine 

 mammals, Northern fur seals, Steller sea lions and harbor 

 seals have all been greatly reduced in population size. The 

 Steller sea lion, whose population size dropped from greater 

 than 100,000 in the 1970s to a mere 35,000 today, is in such a 

 state of decline that it is now listed as a threatened species 

 under the Endangered Species Act, and it is a serious 

 candidate for downlisting to endangered. In addition, the 

 Northern fur seal has declined from a population of about 1.8 

 million in the 1950s to roughly half that figure today, thus 

 gualifying as a depleted species under the MMPA. 



In addition to marine mammals, seabirds and waterfowl of 

 the Bering Sea have also suffered significant declines in 

 their number. In the Pribilof Islands, recognized as home to 

 the largest seabird colonies in the Bering Sea, and among the 

 largest of the Northern hemisphere, some colonies of murres 

 and kittiwakes may have declined by as much as fifty percent 





*Id. at 12. 



[19653-0001/DA940590.060] -38- 



