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Case 1:13-cv-03241-AT Document 1 Filed 09/30/13 Page 35 of 64the population. PBR is calculated based on a formula that has three elements –population size, reproductive rate, and the need, if any, for species recovery.Population size is calculated by taking the number of animals observed on thesurface and multiplying that by a correction factor to account for unobservedanimals swimming below the surface. The IUCN used this formula to estimatePBR. The IUCN panel concluded beluga removal at the levels occurring duringthe years preceding the Georgia Aquarium’s permit application would not have anadverse effect on that population.70. The IUCN panel calculated the PBR for the Sakhalin-Amurpopulation of beluga whales in the Sea of Okhotsk from which the 18 whales werecollected as 29 animals per year. That number was later raised to 30 per yearbased on the IUCN panel recommendation. This is a highly conservative number.The IUCN used assumptions/data regarding population size in the basic PBRformula that are far more conservative than those used by NMFS to calculate PBRwhen NMFS applies the MMPA. The IUCN process for calculating populationsize differed from the NMFS process because (1) the average, not the peak,population count was used, (2) the IUCN panel employed the lowest commonlyused correction factor for animals not seen and counted because they were belowthe surface, and (3) no correction factor was applied for difficult to detect young35