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Cents- for Marine Conservation 



TESTIMONY OF THE CENTER FOR MARINE CONSERVATION 



Before the 



Subcommittee on Environment and Natural Resources 



House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee 



August 4, 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the 

 opportunity to present our views on H.R. 2760, legislation to amend and 

 reauthorize the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). My name is Suzanne 

 ludicello; I am counsel for the Center for Marine Conservation. The Center served 

 as the coordinator for the conservation groups who participated in the negotiations 

 with fishing groups and who endorse the Conservation and Fishing Community 

 Negotiated Proposal submitted to you on June 10, 1993: the Animal Protection 

 Institute, Friends of the Sea Otter, Greenpeace, National Audubon Society, The 

 Marine Mammal Center, and the World Wildlife Fund. 



Our testimony addresses (1) our concerns with H.R. 2760; (2) the need for a 

 system that not only replaces, but improves upon the interim exemption, and (3) 

 our views on revisions to H.R. 2760 that would make it the vehicle for such a 

 program. 



I wish to preface my remarks by thanking the Committee for its 

 encouragement to the conservation and fishing communities to work together to 

 find common ground and creative approaches to incidental take. Too often 

 adversary interest groups forget that once we make someone part of the solution, 

 they are less likely to be part of the problem. The opportunity to work together on 

 incidental take issues first presented itself as early as six years ago with 

 cooperation on the control of high seas driftnets, continued during the 1988 

 Amendments to the MMPA, and through the development of the present joint 

 proposal. This work has always been encouraged by Members of the Committee, 

 and we appreciate your direction and confidence. 



Although the House bill does include three aspects of the negotiated 

 proposal--a scientific peer review group, a general authorization, and conservation 

 teams--we are concerned that it does not integrate the two most important thrusts 

 of our approach, namely to put priority attention on problems, and to reduce takes 

 over time. 



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