United States Senate WASHINGTON, DC 20510 July 30, 2010 The Honorable Gary Locke Secretary U. S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20230 Dear Secretary Locke: We write regarding the upcoming release by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of a new draft biological opinion (Bip) regarding the status of the endangered western population of Steller sea lions, a policy which could have a major impact on the multibillion dollar fishing industry in the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska. While we support release of the draft BiOp, we want to make sure the established procedures of a public comment period and an independent scientific peer review occur before the BiOp is finalized. ‘When the current BiOp process was proposed in 2007, the schedule called for release of a Graft in December of 2008, peer-review by the Center for Independent Experts, and a 45- day public comment period before final action to be taken in June, 2009, and implementation in January, 2010. Under NMES’ revised schedule, the draft BiOp is set to be released on Monday, August 2. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will have less than two weeks to review what is expected to be an 800-page document and, if necessary, develop mitigation measures for final action in October. We feel this truncated review process is inadequate to give constructive recommendations on such a complex issue with potentially significant impacts. The current schedule also bypasses the well-established precedent of an independent scientific review of the BiOp’s scientific methods and conclusions. We believe such a review is an essential step to promote a credible scientific product to all stakeholders and hold up to judicial review. Moreover, a thorough peer review combined with comments from the public would result in greater benefit to the long-term health and management of the western Alaska ecosystem than a process lacking independent scientific review. We recognize while the overall population of Steller sea lions is increasing, there are concers regarding certain sub-populations in the western Aleutians. If NMFS or the ‘Council determine these concerns must be addressed, this can be done while the public and scientific review of the draft BiOp is underway by developing interim measures under the emergency rule procedures of Section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.The Honorable Gary Locke July 30, 2010 Page 2 North Pacific fisheries are the best example of precautionary, science-based management in the United States and perhaps the world. A failure to follow the typical peer review and public comment processes used in other controversial BiOps will result in Gisagreement over whether decisions were based on sound science and an open, transparent process. We are concerned that this may distract from NMFS’s ability to work on recovering protected species while regulating an industry with thousands of direct fishing jobs and others who depend on those fisheries. A failure also increases the risk that appropriate measures to protect endangered Steller sea lion populations may be delayed by years of litigation. Coordinated management of endangered species and fisheries is a challenging endeavor. We ask that you ensure NMFS undertakes a thoughtful process that allows for reasoned and fully informed input by scientists, managers, fishermen, and other stakeholders. Thank you for your timely consideration of this request. Sincerely, ‘Lisa Murkowski Mark Begich United States Senator United States Senator “Tas, a . a : Patty Murray Maria Cantwell United States Senator United States Senator