MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



merits to the Marine Mammal Protection Act did not 

 place additional burdens on the Service, as a practical 

 matter, agency responsibilities had been increased due 

 to the elimination of the authority of the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service to regulate most aspects of the care and 

 maintenance of captive marine mammals. With this 

 in mind, the Commission recommended that the 

 Service develop a more comprehensive regulatory 

 program and strengthen its oversight and enforcement 

 capabilities as they relate to marine mammals by 

 obtaining additional inspectors, additional technical 

 and clerical help, and additional training programs. 



Subsequently the Animal and Plant Health Inspec- 

 tion Service announced its intention to proceed with a 

 review of the regulations governing the care and 

 maintenance of captive marine mammals. The Com- 

 mission hopes to raise many of these issues in the 

 context of that review. 



Care and Maintenance Standards 



The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

 regulates the humane handling, housing, care, treat- 

 ment, and transportation of marine mammals under 

 the Animal Welfare Act. The marine mammal 

 standards, adopted in 1979 and amended in 1984, 

 have not been updated to reflect advances in animal 

 husbandry and marine mammal science. Therefore, 

 on 29 May 1990 the Marine Mammal Commission in- 

 vited representatives of the Animal and Plant Health 

 Inspection Service, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service to meet to 

 discuss the need to revise the standards. All agreed 

 that a review of the standards was desirable and that 

 an interagency approach should be followed. As a 

 first step, the Commission on 31 July 1991 provided 

 the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service with 

 a comprehensive discussion paper identifying short- 

 comings in the current standards and raising questions 

 to be addressed in reviewing those standards. 



In response, the Animal and Plant Health Inspec- 

 tion Service on 23 July 1993 published an advance 

 notice of proposed rulemaking, indicating that it was 

 considering revising its marine mammal standards. 



Based in part on the Commission's discussion paper, 

 the Service solicited public comment on certain 

 elements of the standards including water quality, 

 water and air temperatures, noise levels, the allow- 

 ance of swim-with-the-dolphin programs, record- 

 keeping requirements with regard to husbandry, and 

 maintaining marine mammals in isolation. The 

 Commission provided comments on 5 October 1993, 

 reiterating the suggestions made in its 31 July 1991 

 letter. 



The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

 subsequently indicated its intention to use negotiated 

 rulemaking to review and revise its marine mammal 

 standards and guidelines. The first meeting of the 

 negotiated rulemaking advisory committee was held 

 on 25-26 September 1995. The Committee comprises 

 a broad cross-section of the public display and animal 

 welfare communities. Representatives of the Commis- 

 sion, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service attended the meeting as 

 observers. At the initial meeting, the participants 

 established an organizational protocol to guide the 

 negotiations and, in anticipation that the process might 

 not be fully funded, discussed in broad terms the key 

 topics to be considered. These included requirements 

 related to space, isolation/separation, water quality, 

 noise, temperature, transportation, recordkeeping, 

 food preparation, necropsies, personnel qualifications 

 and training, lighting, petting and feeding pools, and 

 traveling exhibits. 



Based on these discussions and previously submit- 

 ted comments, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

 Service in late December distributed a draft revision 

 of the regulations setting forth "Specifications for the 

 Humane Handling, Care, Treatment, and Transporta- 

 tion of Marine Mammals." The Service intends to 

 use the draft as a starting point for discussion during 

 the negotiated rulemaking process. 



The draft addresses some, but not all, of the 

 Commission's concerns as outlined in the 1991 

 discussion paper. Among the amendments proposed 

 by the Service are establishment of new standards for 

 allowable ambient and peak environmental noise 

 levels; regulation of indoor and outdoor water and air 

 temperatures to reflect the natural habitat of the 

 species; a requirement that artificial lighting at indoor 



206 



