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Congressman Studds, members of the Committee, thank you for 

 the opportunity to discuss the pending reauthorization of the 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act with you today. 



I am Jeff Kaelin, the Executive Director of the Maine Sardine 

 Council. Maine's sardine industry consists of four companies 

 operating six factories located between Bath and Lubec, Maine. 

 These factories utilize about 35 thousand metric tons of Atlantic 

 herring each year to produce more than $40 million worth of canned 

 sardines and other canned herring products. 



I am also here today as the Government Relations Coordinator 

 for the Maine Aquaculture Association. Maine's aquaculture 

 industry is becoming a stable industry - contributing more than $50 

 million to our state's economy - and has terrific potential for 

 growth . 



In addition to these responsibilities, I am also the President 

 of the Associated Fisheries of Maine. This organization is an 

 umbrella group of about 50 fishing-related businesses, and several 

 fisheries associations - including the Maine Gillnetters 

 Association - operating in Maine. 



In behalf of these organizations, beginning in February, I 

 participated in the negotiations between fisheries and 

 environmental groups in an effort to provide Congress with an 

 alternative to the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) 

 proposed regime to govern the interactions between marine mammals 

 and commercial fishermen after September 30. All of the groups 

 that I represent and work with want to be part of a process that 

 ensures both the viability of marine mammal stocks and commercial 

 fisheries in our region. There are very few significant 

 interactions between Maine's commercial fisheries and Gulf of Maine 

 marine mammal stocks. 



The draft bill which you have asked me to comment on combines 

 elements of the NMFS proposed regime and the primary negotiated 

 proposal which I will call the "critical stock regime". A 

 recognition of the importance of the issues raised in the second 

 negotiated proposal, concerning "The Intentional Lethal Taking of 

 Pinnipeds", is also reflected in the Committee's bill. 



In this statement, I will direct specific comments to portions 

 of the draft bill and explain how these comments relate to the 

 goals which the groups that I worked with attempted to reach 

 through the negotiations over the past few months. 



The Reduction of Mortality and Serious Injury 



The Committee's proposal states that its immediate goal is 



