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economic. " For two decades its mandate has been to protect whales, porpoises, seals, and sea 

 lions, walruses, polar bears, sea otters, and manatees through its major provision: a 

 moratorium on the taking of all marine mammals by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction. 



The Act claims among its purposes protecting marine mammals so they do not "cease 

 to be a significant functioning element in the ecosystem of which they are a part." Another 

 goal of the MMPA is that the "incidental kill or incidental serious injury of marine mammals 

 permitted in the course of commercial fishing be reduced to insignificant levels approaching a 

 zero mortality. . .rate." 



The Act gives the Secretary of Commerce authority to waive the moratorium, if the 

 best available scientific evidence reveals it would not disadvantage a marine mammal stock to 

 do so. Certain limited exemptions are allowed for takes of small numbers of marine 

 mammals for a variety of purposes, including incidental (not intended) takes during 

 commercial fishing. 



Marine mammals often compete with humans for the same fish, or occur in areas 

 where fishing is conducted. As a result they are sometimes incidentally taken during 

 commercial fishing operations. The regulation of such operations to protect marine mammals 

 has become a critical, and often volatile, issue. Since its enactment, the MMPA has 

 prohibited the take of marine mammals incidental to commercial fishing unless authorized by 

 an incidental take permit or a small take exemption. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 



