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and well, and were exhibiting a sulking behavior which I have often seen in 

 my training tanks. By waiting five minutes, until the sulking animals have 

 to come up for air, you can let them out of the nets easily. Another problem 

 is the occasional stray animal or animals that are deep in the net, away from 

 the backdown area, and go unnoticed until the net is drawn in. Jim Coe points 

 out that you can easily tell if any such animals have been left behind by 

 sticking your head under water and listening ; they whistle all the time. 



So it turns out to be important to have a person checking the porpoises 

 from below the water surface before backdown is terminated. There is a real 

 hazard from sharks in the net. Our photographer was actually attacked once. 

 So Coe, who performed this task for the C.J., worked from a small rubber 

 raft; he was also, with some practice, able to use this raft to help herd 

 reluctant animals out of the backdown apex to freedom. 



Perhaps my own principal contribution as a scientist on this cruise was 

 that I was able to verify the fishermen's observations that the porpoises 

 exhibit learned behavior. 



There are a number of ways to take advantage of this ability to learn. For 

 example, some animals are reluctant to turn around and face the sunken 

 corkline they must cross, and have to be guided out, sometimes backwards. 

 I heave suggested the fleet-wide use of an inexpensive pinger or sound source 

 located outside the net at the backdown area, a sort of freedom bell, to be 

 associated with the spot where the animals first feel themselves to be free. 

 I would hope that after one or two experiences this welcome sound might 

 help animals turn around and orient towards the corkline and open water. 



I would like to point out that we cannot expect all 137 vessels in the fleet 

 to become instantly as good as the Elizabeth C.J. The cruise of the Elizabeth 

 C.J. was in effect an experiment conducted under ideal conditions. Further- 

 more, the large matter of understanding the fine-tuning of the net, and the 

 smaller matter of understanding the behavioral tendencies of the porpoises, 

 both take training. For example, I would estimate that the training of a 

 skilled raft man could only be done under actual fishing conditions, and would 

 be about the same task in time and difficulty as turning a novice horseman 

 into a good working cowboy. 



As far as fleet-wide gear improvement goes, this too will take time. Every 

 boat is different and every net is different ; the installation of fine mesh panels 

 and variations of the super-apron have to be custom-tailored, as it were, to 

 each net, and then modified in practice, if necessary. 



Motivation is also very important. James Coe feels that the single most 

 important rescue technique is to continue backdown until it is certain that 

 every live porpoise is out of the net. This would eliminate many of the small 

 losses of two or three or five animals which add up so fast statistically; and 

 it requires that crews think about porpoise life-saving techniques with the 

 same responsible care they give to their own life-protective bear and methods 

 on board ship. I am confident that the necessary training and motivation will 

 be able to continue taking place throughout the fleet. When I joined the 

 Elizabeth C.J. the scientsts and the fishermen had already been out at sea 

 working together under strenuous conditions for about a month. I was de- 

 lighted to observe that there was a more than cooperative spirit. Real mutual 

 respect and understanding had grown up between the two groups, and I 

 stepped into a flourishing working relationship. I would especially like to take 

 this opportunity to thank Captain Manual Jorges, who is present here, for 

 the courtesies and cooperation extended to me. Captain Jorges ran an extra 

 set. which was not a profitable fishing set and which meant about three hours 

 of gruellingly hard work for everyone, just so I could make as many beha- 

 vioral observations as posible, and it was invaluable to me. 



Perhaps the greatest breakthrough of the Elizabeth C.J. cruise was that a 

 lot of public and private understanding and communication grew out of it, 

 not just between fishermen and scientists, but also among the industry, the 

 environmentalists, the government and the public. I think this is going to be 

 of inestimable and growing benefit. 



FUTURE RESEARCH 



I hope that circumstances this year will permit the mounting of larger and 

 longer research cruises. I personally am very anxious to work on Dr. Norris' 



