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Case 1:13-cv-03241-AT Document 1 Filed 09/30/13 Page 36 of 64animals. In addition, (1) a 20th-percentile minimum population estimate was used,(2) the estimated net productivity (i.e., reproduction) factor was halved, and (3) arecovery factor was applied that again halved the estimated PBR.71. To calculate the PBR, the IUCN expert panel used a minimumpopulation estimate of 2,891, then multiplied that number by one-half the acceptednet productivity rate of 4% for belugas, and then multiplied that number by a 0.5recovery factor. This resulted in an annual PBR of 29 animals, later corrected to30 per year based on data analysis that used an additional pooling of datarecommended by the IUCN panel. This annual PBR is one percent of the IUCNminimum population estimate and well above the 2007-2011 five-year averageremoval of 22 animals. However, if the IUCN had used the population sizeestimation methods, including the population correction factors, NMFS appliespursuant to the MMPA for calculating the PBR for beluga whale stocks in theeastern Chukchi Sea, eastern Bering Sea, and Bristol Bay in the U.S., then theIUCN PBR calculation would increase to 46 per year. The collection of the 18whales proposed for import occurred over a three-year period.72. The IUCN PBR calculations were based on the assumption that thewhales found in the Sakhalin-Amur area are a distinct and separate populationgroup. However, the data indicate this is not the case. The Sea of Okhotsk36