Chapter II 



REAUTHORIZATION OF THE MARINE MAMMAL 

 PROTECTION ACT AND RELATED LEGISLATION 



Several Federal statutes govern activities that affect 

 marine mammals and their ecosystems. Foremost 

 among them is the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 

 Also important are the Endangered Species Act of 

 1973 and the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and 

 Management Act of 1976. 



The Marine Mammal Protection Act provides that 

 the primary objective of marine mammal management 

 should be to maintain the health and stability of the 

 marine ecosystem. Secondarily, whenever consistent 

 with this objective, it should be the goal to obtain an 

 optimum sustainable population of each stock, keeping 

 in mind the carrying capacity of the habitat. In 1994 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act was amended and 

 reauthorized for a six-year period. A brief summary 

 of the amendments and steps taken to implement them 

 is provided below. 



As noted in Chapter III, several marine mammal 

 species are listed as endangered or threatened under 

 the Endangered Species Act. This Act provides 

 additional protection to these species, including the 

 requirement that actions taken, funded, or authorized 

 by Federal agencies not be likely to jeopardize the 

 species' continued existence or destroy or adversely 

 modify the species' critical habitat. The primary goal 

 of the Endangered Species Act is to restore listed 

 species to a point where the Act's protection is no 

 longer needed. 



The Magnuson Act establishes the framework for 

 managing U.S. fishery resources. As such, it has 

 several implications for marine mammals that may 

 compete with fishermen for the same fish and shellfish 

 resources or that may be taken incidentally. 



Authorization for the Endangered Species Act 

 expired at the end of fiscal year 1992, and autho- 



rization for the Magnuson Act expired at the end of 

 fiscal year 1993. Although bills were introduced in 

 Congress to reauthorize these statutes, no final action 

 was taken. Efforts undertaken during 1995 to effect 

 amendment and reauthorization of these measures are 

 discussed below. 



Marine Mammal Protection Act 



The Marine Mammal Protection Act was originally 

 enacted in 1972. Since then, it has been reauthorized 

 and amended several times, most recently in 1994. 

 As discussed in the previous annual report, the 1994 

 amendments (Public Law 103-238) reauthorize appro- 

 priations through fiscal year 1999 for the Marine 

 Mammal Commission and the Departments of Com- 

 merce and the Interior (the agencies primarily respon- 

 sible for implementing the Act) and make substantial 

 changes to many of its provisions. A summary of the 

 amendments is included in Appendix D in Commis- 

 sion's annual report for 1994. 



The most significant amendments establish a new 

 regime to govern the take of marine mammals inci- 

 dental to commercial fishing operations. The new 

 regime replaces the interim exemption that had been 

 in place since 1988. Three new sections were added 

 to the Act to address interactions between commercial 

 fisheries and marine mammals. Section 117 requires 

 the preparation of marine mammal stock assessments 

 to provide a scientific basis for the new incidental-take 

 regime. The assessments, among other things, iden- 

 tify strategic stocks for which take reduction plans are 

 needed. 



Section 118 sets forth requirements for the new 

 incidental-take regime. It directs the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service to publish a list of commercial 



