12 



ion as to whose dock or whose boat it is. I didn't know they were 

 that fierce in California. I had several conversations myself with 

 them on the pier in San Francisco, but I guess they knew there 

 was little danger at the time. The gentleman from New Jersey. 



Mr. Pallone. No questions. 



Mr. Studds. The gentlewoman from California. 



Ms. EsHOO. I will pass my questions, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. Does the gentlewoman from California wish to say a 

 word on behalf of her sea lions or are you 



Ms. EsHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to say 

 that within the boundaries of my magnificent district, a miracle 

 takes place every year at Anna Nuevo with the elephant seals that 

 come in. It is something that Californians and people from all over 

 the world flock to my district to see. I am pleased to be on this 

 committee, and the subject that is at hand is important and near 

 and dear to my heart. I do have some questions that I would like to 

 ask later on, and thank you for calling on me, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Studds. I thank the gentlewoman. We thank you very much, 

 and we look forward to working with you as we proceed with the 

 reauthorization. And we will go now to panel number II. If you can 

 rearrange yourselves as quickly as logistics will allow. There are 

 seven members of this panel. We welcome you. We are going to 

 take you in the order in which your names appear on the witness 

 list. We are going to ask you to, as usual, confine your oral presen- 

 tation to no more than five minutes, to respect those lights, and we 

 will withhold our questioning until you have all concluded your 

 testimony. We will begin with Ms. Suzanne ludicello, Center for 

 Marine Conservation. Ms. ludicello. 



STATEMENT OF SUZANNE lUDICELLO, SENIOR PROGRAM 

 COUNSEL, CENTER FOR MARINE CONSERVATION 



Ms. Iudicello. Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, 

 and members of the subcommittee. We are delighted to have this 

 opportunity to present our views on reauthorization of the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act. My name is Suzanne ludicello. I am coun- 

 sel for the Center for Marine Conservation, and our statement 

 today is made also on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund, 

 Friends of the Sea Otter, Greenpeace, The Marine Mammal Center, 

 the National Audubon Society, and the World Wildlife Fund. 



As you know, and as you can see by the handsome panel before 

 you, the diversity of views on all the aspects of the MMPA is as 

 varied as the interested communities and constituencies affected by 

 the provisions of this landmark legislation. Today, we are going to 

 limit our remarks though to those parts of the law that govern in- 

 cidental take of marine mammals in commercial fishing because 

 we too, as did you, recognize the deadline that is coming down 

 upon us. As the reauthorization proceeds and your deliberations 

 become more detailed, we expect that you will need to hear individ- 

 ually from a variety of groups who represent a very broad spec- 

 trum of views on the issue. 



Rather than recap the MMPA background that is in my written 

 statement, I would like to proceed directly to where we stand now. 



