The following release was received from Mike Carpenter of the USF&WS as this went to press.  It will govern how the limited argali import permits will be allocated between hunters who apply for permits:

     Each year, the Division of Management Authority, in consultation with the Division of Scientific Authority and other reviewing offices, makes a determination on the number of import permits that will be issued authorizing the importation of argali trophies from each of the three approved argali countries.  Due to established criteria, it is not unusual that DMA issues fewer import permits than there are hunters booked to hunt in one of the three countries.  To establish an equitable system for allocating the approved permits, we have established the following procedures:

     The US Fish and Wildlife Service, through the Division of Management Authority, will accept applications for the import of argali trophy (Application form 3-200-21) between May 1 and May 15.   All applications received during this two week period will be given an application number (a PRT number) and group by country and, in the case of Mongolia, population.   By group, application numbers will be drawn at random to create a numbered list of all applications received in each group (i.e., one list for Tajikistan, one for Kyrgyzistan, one for Mongolian gobi argali and one for Mongolian altai argali).

     Each year, we request and receive a list of approved hunters from the Governments of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzistan, and Mongolia.  The "first-come, first-served" list from above is crossed referenced to the lists of approved hunters.  Starting with #1 on our list, we will go down our list issuing permits each hunters that appears on the approved hunter lists from the countries.  Once we have reached the number of permits that we have determined could be issued for the year, we will hold all remaining applications until the end of the hunting seasons.  Any cancellations and corrections will be chosen from the list by number. 

     If needed we will continue to assign numbers to applications after the two weeks as they are received in the unlikely event that these individuals will obtain permits in number order.