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STATEMENT OF 



ROBERT J. HOFMAN, Ph.D. 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM DIRECTOR 



MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION 



BEFORE THE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

 COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



APRIL 20, 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 



I am Robert Hofman, Scientific Program Director of the 

 Marine Mammal Commission. I appreciate this opportunity to 

 present the Marine Mammal Commission's views regarding the system 

 that should be used to govern interactions between marine mammals 

 and commercial fisheries after expiration of the interim, 5-year 

 exemption enacted in 1988. 



When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972, it 

 was recognized that marine mammals were taken incidentally in the 

 course of commercial fishing operations, particularly the 

 yellowfin tuna purse seine fishery in the eastern tropical 

 Pacific. It also was recognized that prohibiting such take could 

 impair commercial fisheries and have significant socio-economic 

 impacts. Thus, the Act provided that the Secretaries of the 

 Interior and Commerce could issue permits authorizing incidental 

 taking of non-depleted species and stocks when the taking would 

 not disadvantage them. It also was recognized that, in at least 

 some cases, the incidental take might be avoided or reduced by 

 altering fishing gear or practices. Thus, one of the goals of 

 the Act is to reduce the incidental kill and serious injury of 

 marine mammals permitted in the course of commercial fishing 

 operations to as near zero as practicable. 



During Marine Mammal Protection Act reauthorization hearings 

 held in 1981, representatives of the U.S. fishing industry noted 

 that many fisheries caught only small, biologically insignificant 

 numbers of marine mammals and that it was burdensome to require 

 fishermen involved in those fisheries to go through the same 

 permitting procedures necessary to ensure that fisheries taking 

 large numbers of marine mammals do not disadvantage the affected 

 species or population stock. This made sense and the Act was 

 amended in 1981 to allow the Secretary to authorize the 

 unintentional taking of small numbers of non-depleted marine 

 mammals incidental to commercial fishing operations when, after 

 notice and opportunity for public comment, the Secretary finds 



