44 



STATEMENT OF 



ROBERT J. HOFMAN, PH.D., 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM DIRECTOR 



MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION 



BEFORE THE 



SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



AUGUST 4, 199 3 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: 



I am Robert Hofman, Scientific Program Director of the 

 Marine Mammal Commission. I am pleased to provide the 

 Commission's views on the Bill, introduced by members of the 

 Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, to establish a new 

 regime to govern the incidental take of marine mammals during 

 commercial fishing operations. 



The Bill incorporates many provisions of the regime proposed 

 by the National Marine Fisheries Service in December 1992 to 

 govern the incidental taking of Marine Mammals in the course of 

 commercial fishing operations after September 3 0th when the 

 interim regime established by the 1988 Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act Amendments is scheduled to expire. It also incorporates 

 provisions of the alternative regimes proposed by the fishing 

 industry and certain environmental groups and by the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Coalition. It represents a compromise which, 

 in most respects, seems both reasonable and workable, at least in 

 the short-term. 



As the Commission understands it, the Bill would authorize 

 fishermen to lethally take unlimited numbers of marine mammals, 

 except those listed as endangered under the Endangered Species 

 Act, until such time as the National Marine Fisheries Service: 



1. develops preliminary assessments of (a) the status of 

 all marine mammal stocks that occur in waters under U.S. 

 jurisdiction, (b) the levels of taking that could be allowed 

 without causing the stocks to be reduced or maintained for 

 significant periods of time below their maximum net 

 productivity levels (the lower limit of the optimum 

 sustainable population range) , and (c) those stocks that are 

 being reduced or maintained below their maximum net 

 productivity levels as a result of incidental taking and 

 therefore should be designated "critical" stocks; 



2. constitutes an independent Scientific Working Group to 

 provide expert peer review of the preliminary assessments; 



