147 



take action to minimize human-cauaed mortality of all types, 

 including shooting. In any case, whether shooting is the cause of 

 population declines seems to us beside the point. The fishing 

 community agreed in our discussions to stop the practice. It flies 

 in the face of the underlying policies of the MMPA. Why not state 

 so outright in the law? 



Many witnesses commented on the provisions in H.R. 2760 to 

 establish the Pinniped Interaction Task Force. Would anyone like 

 to comment further? 



Rather than comment individually on each of the listed questions, 

 we enclose for your consideration a copy of proposed language that 

 we believe would be acceptable in devising such a task force. Of 

 greatest importance in any such endeavor are the following 

 elements: 



1) demonstrated, documented and habitual damaging behavior 

 exhibited by an animal or animals that can be identified 

 individually; 



2) a process that requires the proponent of action to demonstrate 

 that the applicant has proven that the marine mammal is the cause 

 of the problem, that the applicant has taken all possible steps to 

 remedy the situation, and none were successful; 



3) that the chosen course of action will indeed correct the 

 problem, not just put it off to another year. 



We point out for the record that while members of the conservation 

 community were willing to agree to a process to examine problem 

 interactions between pinnipeds and fishing situations such as 

 locks, dams, net pens and so forth, we did not agree that following 

 such a case-by-case review that we would agree to lethal removal of 

 an animal. Each applicant will have to make his/her case through 

 a rigorous process. 



Again, thank you for providing this additional opportunity to 

 amplify the above points for the record. We look forward to 

 continuing to work with you and the Committee as you continue your 

 deliberations on this important marine conservation law. 



t4t£ Jhdt x Ce/4J 



SuzanWe Iudicello 

 Senior Program Counsel 



cc: The Honorable Dan Hamburg, U.S. Representative 



