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to have public display and scientific research continue to be 

 governed separately as provided in Section 1371(a)(1). 



The National Marine Fisheries Service has presented a 

 proposal to Congress that could potentially eliminate the 

 special regime for public display and scientific research. 

 NMFS, Proposed Regime to Govern Interaction between Marine 

 Mammals and Commercial Fishing Operations (Nov. 1992) . If 

 the Proposed Regime were to apply to public display and 

 scientific research, these beneficial activities would for 

 the first time be lumped into one regime with other 

 activities, such as commercial fisheries. All would compete 

 for the allocation of a number of animals permitted under a 

 complex and disadvantageous PBR calculation. And, as 

 acknowledged in the Draft Legislative Environmental Impact 

 Statement on the Proposed Regime (at p. 2-46) , the allocation 

 of the marine mammals "will be a complicated and 

 controversial process." 



Instead, obtaining marine mammals for public display and 

 scientific research institutions should continue to be 

 governed pursuant to Section 1371(a)(1) and these 

 institutions should be granted permits for their beneficial 

 purposes expeditiously and with a minimum of burden. 



To do otherwise would be contrary t© the simplified 

 requirements that have been called for by Congress for public 

 display and scientific research, would strain public display 

 and scientific research institutions, and would potentially 

 thrust them into competition with other activities, such as 

 commercial fishing. This would undermine the important 

 public purposes Congress intended public display and 

 scientific research institutions to serve. As stated by the 

 Congressional Research Service, 



"This implicit policy difference [between public display 

 and scientific research, on the one hand, and commercial 

 fisheries, on the other] could be threatened if public 

 display and scientific research takings are drawn into 

 the same regime as commercial fisheries takings." 9 



9 Congressional Research Service, The Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act: Reauthorization Issues at CRS-9 (Sept. 8 

 1992) . 



