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-ffl 



Charles F. Gauvin 



SS? ™ AUG 06 1993 



Chief Executive Officer 



August 4, 1993 



The Honorable Gerry E. Studds 



Chairman 



Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 



U.S. House of Representatives 



Washington, DC 20515 



Re- Comments on the "Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) 

 Amendments of 1993," H.R. 2760. 



Dear Chairman Studds: 



On behalf of Trout Unlimited, I am writing to express our concerns about the above 

 referenced bill, which is the subject of a hearing that you are conducting today under your 

 leadership as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Natural Resources. I 

 request that you include this letter in the hearing record. 



By way of background, Trout Unlimited (TU), through its Washington state council, the 

 Northwest Salmon and Steelhead Council, has participated in the Industry-Environmental 

 Negotiating Group over the past five months. TU believes, as do many members of this 

 group, that great progress has been made in developing workable solutions to the vexing 

 problems produced by marine mammal and fisheries interactions. These solutions are 

 articulated in the "Conservation and Fishing Community Final Negotiated Proposal for a 

 Marine Mammal Research and Conservation Program to be Enacted Through the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act Reauthorization of 1993" and "Intentional Lethal Taking of 

 Pinnipeds" agreements. It has always been our hope and goal that Congress would use the 

 products borne of these difficult negotiations as the basis for amending the MMPA in the 

 reauthorization process. 



Upon reviewing H.R. 2760, it is clear to us that you have considered the provisions of the 

 negotiated agreements and have taken steps to include its concepts in a constructive 

 manner. However, the bill fails to address key concerns of ours that were addressed in the 

 negotiated agreements. 



First, Section 7 of the bill does not provide the Secretary of Commerce with authority to 

 permit --following full public review and appropriate task force recommendation -lethal 

 takings of problem pinnipeds. Section 7 does authorize a "Pinniped Interaction Task 

 Force" to study and make recommendations concerning problem pinnipeds that are 

 "dangerous or damaging to salmonid fishery resources," but then fails to allow the 

 Secretary to act on those recommendations. In contrast, the "Intentional Lethal Taking" 

 negotiated agreement does allow the Secretary to permit lethal taking of problem pinnipeds 

 after an appropriate task force recommendation and public review and comment. 



Second, Section 7's provisions for guiding Task Force deliberations do not provide 

 sufficient detail and focus to the problem. In our view, the "Intentional Lethal Taking" 



America's Leading Coidwater Fisheries Conservation Organization 

 Washington, D.C. Headquarters: 800 Follin Lane, SE, Suite 250, Vienna, VA 22180-4959 703-281-1100 FAX 703-281-1825 



