CHAPTER VIII 



MARINE MAMMAL MANAGEMENT IN ALASKA 



As enacted by Congress in 1972, the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act provided that the Secretaries of Commerce and 

 the Interior, in consultation with the Commission, could, on 

 request, take certain actions that would lead to the return 

 of management of marine mammal populations to the state in 

 which they were found. On 31 January 1973, the State of 

 Alaska submitted a request to the Secretaries for a waiver 

 of the moratorium established by the Act and the return of 

 management authority for ten species of marine mammals. 



Ten years have now passed and, although Alaska briefly 

 regained management of one species, the Pacific walrus, it 

 presently does not have management authority for any marine 

 mammals. The many difficulties and delays which resulted in 

 this situation have been fully discussed in the Commission's 

 past Annual Reports, particularly the Report for Calendar 

 Year 1980. As was noted in that Report, early in 1979, 

 there were encouraging signs that most of the issues delaying 

 return of management to Alaska were nearing resolution. 

 This progress was halted, however, in April 1979 by a U.S. 

 District Court decision that, in effect, interpreted the 

 native exemption clause of the Act to prohibit the State 

 from regulating the subsistence take of non-depleted walrus. 

 Subsequently, the State returned management of walrus to the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, and consideration of the State's 

 request for return of management of this and other species 

 was deferred until questions relating to the native exemption 

 clause could be resolved. 



This impasse concerning management of Alaska's marine 

 mammal populations and return of management generally was 

 one of the issues leading to efforts to amend the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act. In 1981, following hearings in both 

 the House of Representatives and the Senate and after successful 

 efforts by the Commission and others to develop a consensus 

 among the various interested parties. Congress adopted a 

 number of amendments to the Act which were discussed in 

 detail in the Commission's Annual Report for 19 81. 



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