National Marine Fisheries Service : improvements are needed in the federal process used to protect marine mammals from commercial fishing : report to the Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, House of Representatives.

Because marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, often inhabit waters where commercial fishing occurs, they can become entangled in fishing gear, which may injure or kill them--this is referred to as "incidental take." The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requ...

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Bibliographic Details
Corporate Authors:	United States. Government Accountability Office, ProQuest (Firm), United States. Congress. House. Committee on Natural Resources
Format:	Government Document eBook
Language:	English
Published:	[Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Govt. Accountability Office, [2008]
Series:	U.S. Congressional Research.
Subjects:	United States. > National Marine Fisheries Service. Marine mammals > Government policy > United States. Whales > Government policy > United States. Fisheries. Marine resources conservation. Electronic books.
Online Access:	Connect to the full text of this electronic book

Description
Summary:	Because marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, often inhabit waters where commercial fishing occurs, they can become entangled in fishing gear, which may injure or kill them--this is referred to as "incidental take." The 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) require the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to establish take reduction teams for certain marine mammals to develop measures to reduce their incidental takes. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which NMFS (1) can accurately identify the marine mammal stocks--generally a population of animals of the same species located in a common area--that meet the MMPA's requirements for establishing such teams, (2) has established teams for those stocks that meet the requirements, (3) has met the MMPA's deadlines for the teams subject to them, and (4) evaluates the effectiveness of take reduction regulations. GAO reviewed the MMPA, and NMFS data on marine mammals, and take reduction team documents and obtained the views of NMFS officials, scientists, and take reduction team members.
Item Description:	Record is based on bibliographic data in ProQuest U.S. Congressional Research Digital Collection. Reuse except for individual research requires license from ProQuest, LLC. Electronic resource.
Physical Description:	1 online resource.
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references.