CHAPTER II 



REAUTHORIZATION AND AMENDMENT OF THE 

 MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT 



The Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972 for 

 the purpose of protecting and encouraging the growth of marine 

 mammal populations to the greatest extent feasible, commensurate 

 with sound policies of resource management. The Act provides 

 that the primary objective of marine mammal management is to 

 maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem. 

 Whenever consistent with that objective, it is the goal of 

 the Act to obtain optimum sustainable marine mammal populations 

 while keeping in mind the carrying capacity of the habitat. 



Background 



Since 1972, the Act has been amended several times. In 

 1986, section 101(a) (5) was amended to allow the take of 

 small numbers of marine mammals from depleted stocks incidental 

 to activities other than commercial fishing. Prior to 1988, 

 the Act was last reauthorized in 1984 when it was also amended. 

 Among other things, the 1984 amendments: 1) extended for an 

 indefinite period the general permit issued to the American 

 Tunaboat Association in 1980; 2) established quotas for the 

 incidental take of coastal spotted and eastern spinner dolphins 

 by U.S. tuna fishermen; 3) required that foreign nations 

 seeking to import yellowfin tuna into the United States provide 

 documentary evidence that they have adopted a porpoise 

 protection program comparable to that of the United States 

 and have achieved an incidental take rate comparable to that 

 of the U.S. fleet; and 4) directed the Secretary of Commerce 

 to undertake a program to monitor the indices of abundance 

 and trends of marine mammal populations taken incidental to 

 the yellowfin tuna fishery. 



Events since reauthorization in 1984 suggested that 

 broader amendments would be considered during the 1988 reauthor- 

 ization. Most notably, the appellate court decision in Kokechik 

 Fisherman's Association v. Secretary of Commerce , 839 F.2d 

 795 (D.C. Cir. 1988) invalidated a permit issued to the 

 Federation of Japan Salmon Fisheries Cooperative Association, 

 overturning a longstanding National Marine Fisheries Service 

 interpretation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act permit 

 provisions. (For further discussion of this case, see Chapter 

 VII of this Report.) The Court's decision cast doubt on the 

 Service's ability to issue incidental take permits for other 

 fisheries, including several domestic fisheries whose permits 

 were to expire at the end of 1988. In addition, delays in 



