NMFS Biological Opinion

Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS. 2000. BIOLOGlCAL OPINlON: Section 7 Consultation on Authorization to take Listed Marine Mammals Incidental to Commercial Fishing Operations under Fishery Section 101(a)(5)(E) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act for the California/Oregon Drift Gillnet. October 23, 2000.

p 52: "(ix). Mexican (Baja California) fisheries and direct harvest. Based on a combination of analyses of stranding data, tag-recapture studies and extensive interviews, all carried out between 1994 and 1999, Nichols (personal communication, October 2000) has conservative estimates of the annual take of green turtles and loggerhead turtles by various fisheries and through direct harvest in the Baja California, Mexico region. Nichols and his affiliates estimated the annual mortality of green turtles in this region to be greater than 7,800 turtles, impacting both immature and adult turtles. Mortality of loggerhead turtles, based on stranding and harvest rates, is estimated at 1,950 annually, and affects primarily immature size classes. The primary causes for mortality are the incidental take in a variety of fishing gears and direct harvest for consumption and [illegal] trade."