Stuart Mackay was concerned about the fact that it is a violation of
federal and state statute to collect birds or their parts without a
permit, while hunters can take waterfowl, etc.

Whether we agree with sport hunting on a moral level or not, it remains
legal during specified seasons, for specified species, and a permit - a
license - is required.

I cannot speak for the 'High Seas' fishers, but I have been involved with
the incidental take of seabirds in the Washington salmon fisheries, and
can vouch for the fact that the industry sees incidental take of birds in
their nets as a serious issue. Because of the listing of the Marbled
Murrelet as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, observers
were placed on Puget Sound gillnet and purse seine vessels during the
1993 and 1994 salmon seasons, at a cost of over 500K. The gillnet
association is funding a study - administered by Washington Sea Grant -
to determine net configuration to significantly reduce the entanglement
of Alcids in the Puget Sound fisheries.

Washington Dept of Fish & Wildlife has worked with the USF&WS to
determine areas - especially in the San Juan Islands - to be closed to
commercial net fishing to protect murrelets.

I have seen the *Preliminary* report on the gillnet observer program,
authored by Steve Jefferies and Pam Knudson of WDFW. No murrelets were
observed and the birds that were impacted appear to have been Common
Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets, but nowhere near the "Thousands" of birds
that we see on the TV 30-second sound bites for Greenpeace.

Not wishing to EVER sound like an apologist for the fishing industry, I
might point out that when a fisherman(woman) incidentally takes a murre
during the course of a day's fishing that also yields several dozen
sockeye or chum salmon for the market, that 'take' is certainly no worse
than that take resulting from hitting migratory songbirds with one's car
while en route to a hot birding spot, or having a migrant smack the
window where we watch our feeders..... That take is ALL technically illegal.

It's all a matter of attitude. And legality --> we still need a permit
to possess a bird or "any part thereof".

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov