From the transcript

And we also want to thank them for their recommendation to prioritize review and modification of the Stellar Sea Lion closure areas. Second, I'm here to thank the council, you know, for scheduling this much-needed discussion on its priorities. We appreciate the constraints that limitations on funding, staff capacity, and meeting time have on the scope and scale of work that can be completed, which is what necessitates this really important conversation. So consistent with the administration's recommendation, Groundfish Forum is here today to request that the council prioritize review and modification of Stellar Sea Lion closure areas by initiating a targeted action on 8 identified closure locations in the Aleutian Islands for the directed harvest of Akamakerl. The primary question to be answered in this kind of analysis is whether the magnitude and location of Akamakerl removals in these locations is significant enough to cause demographic consequences to the current level of Steller sea lion population numbers in a small portion of the Aleutian Islands.

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