52 



i assume that QAO atfw baa all of the material before It and would be 

 grateful If you would lei me know when Ita decision is expected. 



Sincerely, 



John R. Twiss, Jr., 

 Executive Director, 



Marine Mammal Commission, 

 Washington, D.C., September J 4, 1M6. 



I >r. BOBEET W. SCHONING, 



Director, National Marine Fish, Tics Service, NOAA/DOC, Washington, D.C. 



Deab Bob: Thank you for your letter of 7 September 1976; It arrived on the 

 13th. The matter of the availability of Saltonstall-Kennedy funds for support 

 Of tuna-porpoise research efforts has been under discussion for about a year. 

 I am concerned that yon still base your decision not to pursue funding of tuna- 

 porpoise research with Saltonstall-Kennedy funds upon the "preliminary assess- 

 ment" of your General Counsel. We considered your views, as expressed in 

 November 1975* to be preliminary. Based upon those views and the Commission's 

 analysis of the situation as summarized in my letter of 27 July 1976, we do not 

 feel it appropriate to still he speaking in terms of preliminary assessments. The 

 information that we provided and such other information as has been available 

 to your General Counsel should have been adequate to reach a final conclusion 

 by this time. Since this has not been done, we recommend that a formal ruling 

 be sought from G.A.O. on the issue and that our correspondence, particularly 

 the attachment to the 27 July 1976 letter, be forwarded to G.A.O. with your 

 request. 



It was very useful for us to have the opportunity to develop a better under- 

 standing of exactly what your funding problems are given your levels of au- 

 thorization. Your position appears difficult, and I hope that it may be possible 

 for the Commission to help you. To this end, I have written Harvey Hutchings 

 asking that we be provided a full review of your funding situation prior to the 

 forthcoming hearings so that we may be able to be of constructive assistance 

 in support of any requests which you may make during the hearings. My hope 

 is that we may be able to help you significantly. 



Thank you again for your letter. I hope that a final determination on whether 

 any consideration can be given to the use of Saltonstall-Kennedy funds can be 

 made promptly. 

 Sincerely, 



John R. Twiss, Jr., 



Executive Director. 



U.S. Department of Commerce, 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 



National Marine Fisheries Service, 



Washington, D.C. September 7, 1970. 

 Mr. John R. Twiss, Jr., 



Executive Director, Marine Mammal Commission, 1625 Eye Street N.W., 

 Washington, D.C. 



Dear John : As requested in your letter of July 27, 1970, we have taken an- 

 other look at the availability of Saltonstall-Kennedy (SK) funds to support 

 the tuna-porpoise research efforts. Although we are most anxious to supplement 

 funding for tuna-porpoise, we again must conclude that based upon the pre- 

 liminary assessment of our General Counsel, we would be on shaky ground to 

 pursue funding of tuna-porpoise research through SK. We will, however, con- 

 tinue to investigate the legality of using SK funds. 



John, as you know, SK is only one source of funding open to NMFS. In addi- 

 tion to the regular appropriation route, it is possible to redirect funds within 

 NMFS or seek NOAA funds to meet selected high priority needs. We currently 

 are reviewing the entire tuna-porpoise and marine mammal research efforts to 

 see if a part or all of the costs of the aerial survey can be accommodated within 

 the present level of expenditure for tuna-porpoise research. If not, then we will 

 examine the possibility of other sources of funding for this. We agree with you, 

 particularly in view of the recent court decisions and the requirements for 

 more extensive population data, that a full-scale aerial survey is of highest 

 priority of our unfunded needs and must be undertaken as quickly as possible. 



