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I would like to thank the Chainnan of the Subcommittee on Environment and 

 Natural Resources for inviting me to present my views on the management of 

 interactions between commercial fisheries and marine ma mm als. Qearly this is the most 

 contentious and complex issue facing Congress as it considers the reauthorization of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act this year. In my work as a biologist, I have studied 

 conflicts between marine mammals and commercial fisheries for over a decade in the 

 United States, Canada, and Latin America. I received my Ph.D. in 1989 for research on 

 incidental catches and life history of harbour porpoises and I am continuing this work in 

 my current position at the Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutioiL 



We have several important conflicts between marine ma mm als and commercial 

 fisheries in the Northeast. Foremost among these is the incidental take of harbour 

 porpoises in sink gill nets in the Gulf of Maine, which I will discuss in some detail. In 

 addition to this problem, we also have a significant incidental catch of offshore dolphins 

 in the swordfish drift net fishery and continuing interactions between the endangered 

 North Atlantic right whale and fixed fishing gear. These two latter situations exemplify 

 some of the difficult issues facing you as you consider reauthorization of the MMPA. In 

 the drift net by-catch we have uncontrolled takes from populations for which we have 

 little or no information on abundance or status. In right whale entanglements we face a 

 highly endangered population of whales, for which even a single mortality may have 

 serious consequences. 



The most serious issue that we face, however, is the incidental take of harbour 

 porpoises in groundfish sink gill nets. In the five years that has elapsed since the start of 

 the Interim Exemption Program in 1988, we have greatly increased our knowledge of the 

 scope of this interaction and of the potential effea of incidental catches on the harbour 

 porpoise population. Our present understanding is that the current incidental is 

 unsustainable. NMFS has proposed listing this population as "Threatened" under the 

 Endangered Species Act due, primarily, to the high incidental catches in the Gulf of 

 Maine sink gill net fishery. 



In general, I support the concepu contained within the NMFS proposal; clearly it 

 is time to institute some type of long-term management system to deal with these 

 conflicts. We cannot let the Interim Exemption expire without some framework to 

 replace it, because many fisheries, including some in the Gulf of Maine, will not be able 

 to obtain incidental take permits or small take exemptions, and thus would be forced to 

 close. In addition, we should not extend the Interim Exemption, because of the limited 

 proteaion for marine mammal populations contained within its regulations. 



The NMFS Proposed Regime maintains the Zero Mortality Goal as originally 

 described in the MMPA of 1972. This is an important objective that drives management 

 to reduce incidental mortality of marine mammals in all fisheries. In some cases, such as 

 the entanglement of harbour porpoises in sink gill nets, it is unlikely that we will soon 

 achieve this goal, but it is certainly worth striving for. 



The NMFS proposal also keeps the goal of maintaining marine mammal stocks 



