MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



continues to embargo tuna harvested by their fleets. 

 Dissatisfaction with existing law has also been ex- 

 pressed by some U.S. tuna fishermen, who have been 

 all but eliminated from the eastern tropical Pacific 

 purse seine fishery. These concerns prompted the 

 Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans of 

 the House of Representatives Committee on Resources 

 to convene an oversight hearing on 21 June 1995 on 

 the tuna-dolphin issue with particular emphasis on the 

 provisions of the International Dolphin Conservation 

 Act. Participants at the hearing included representa- 

 tives of the Department of State, the Inter-American 

 Tropical Tuna Commission, the American Tunaboat 

 Owners Coalition, the National Fisheries Institute, 

 Earth Island Institute, and the Center for Marine 

 Conservation. 



The State Department expressed its view that the 

 threat and imposition of U.S. trade embargoes under 

 the Marine Mammal Protection Act were useful tools 

 in reducing dolphin mortality and bringing about 

 negotiation of a responsible international dolphin 

 protection program under the auspices of the Inter- 

 American Tropical Tuna Commission. The State 

 Department noted, however, that the factual underpin- 

 ning for the embargoes no longer existed and that 

 participants in the international program remain 

 subject to embargoes with no prospect for relief. The 

 Department witness also expressed concern that tuna 

 fishing nations were re-evaluating their participation 

 in the international program, placing its future in 

 jeopardy. 



Based on these views, the State Department advo- 

 cated amending the Marine Mammal Protection Act to 

 conform to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Com- 

 mission standards. That is, a nation that participated 

 effectively in the international program would no 

 longer be subject to a U.S. embargo of its tuna and 

 tuna products. The Department of State believed that 

 such an amendment would preserve the progress made 

 to date in reducing dolphin mortality and would 

 ensure further progress under the La Jolla Agreement. 



The Department of State also advocated amending 

 the Act to allow U.S. fishermen to participate in the 

 eastern tropical Pacific tuna fishery on an equal 

 footing with foreign fishermen. The Department 

 noted that allowing U.S. fishermen to fish in accor- 



dance with the terms of the La Jolla Agreement would 

 not result in an increase in overall dolphin mortality 

 but would merely reallocate the existing quota. The 

 Department also noted the need to amend U.S. law to 

 allow a U.S. citizen to serve as the captain or a crew 

 member on a foreign purse seine vessel so as to 

 provide the expertise needed to further the goal of 

 reducing dolphin mortality throughout the fishery. 



The Department of State also addressed the provi- 

 sions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act concern- 

 ing dolphin-safe tuna, which exclude from the U.S. 

 market any tuna caught in the eastern tropical Pacific 

 by vessels encircling dolphins. The Department 

 discussed several alternatives for addressing the issue, 

 ranging from maintaining the current restrictions to 

 abandoning the labeling standard entirely, but took no 

 position pending further examination. 



The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission also 

 advocated amending the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act to reflect the standards established under the La 

 Jolla Agreement. In support of this position the Tuna 

 Commission noted the progress that had been made 

 under the international program, the potential for 

 some nations to withdraw from the program if U.S. 

 embargoes of their tuna continued, the fact that the 

 number of sets on dolphins in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific had not declined appreciably despite the U.S. 

 embargoes, and the adverse effect that abandoning the 

 practice of setting on dolphins would have on tuna 

 stocks. The Tuna Commission representative present- 

 ed data showing that switching to school sets and log 

 sets, the two principal alternatives to setting on 

 dolphins, would result in greatly increased catch of 

 immature tuna and the bycatch of other marine 

 species, including billfish, sharks, mahi-mahi, and sea 

 turtles. The Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commis- 

 sion estimated that, if sets on dolphins were replaced 

 by school and log sets, between 10 to 25 million 

 undersized yellowfin tuna with no commercial value 

 would be discarded each year. This represents 

 between 13 and 32 percent of the total recruitment for 

 the species and, in the view of the Tuna Commission, 

 would have a drastic effect on the fishery. 



In further support of its position that dolphin sets 

 are an environmentally sound practice, the Tuna 

 Commission argued that dolphin stocks in the eastern 



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