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Our organizations believe strongly that the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service has primary responsibility for the care and main- 

 tenance of marine mammals in captivity. It is vital that primary 

 oversight of marine mammals continues to rest with NMFS, not 

 APHIS. APHIS has been persistently reluctant to modify certain 

 requirements for marine mammals because such requirements 

 could then apply to all captive animal species. APHIS simply has 

 too broad a mandate to have primary oversight of captive marine 

 mammals which have very specialized species-specific require- 

 ments. 



Most importantly, however, we must clarify that the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act clearly grants NMFS statutory authority 

 over all marine mammals, regardless of the environment they in- 

 habit. As NMFS has maintained, and we concur, captivity is a form 

 of take and NMFS has jurisdiction over marine mammal takes. 



Second, the Marine Mammal Protection Act should be amended 

 to prohibit the capture from the wild of marine mammals for public 

 display as well as their import and export. Public display can be 

 a tool for education and conservation without capturing healthy in- 

 dividuals from intact social groups in the wild. 



Public display facilities can use captive-bred and unreleasable 

 stranded animals for their exhibits when this is appropriate. 



Furthermore, we now have a better understanding of marine 

 mammal species in the wild. We know that many exhibit long-term 

 familial bonds and in general are socially complex, long-lived and 

 mentally sophisticated creatures. Wild cetaceans may travel up to 

 50 to 100 miles a day, dive several hundred feet deep, and spend 

 only 20 percent of their time at the surface of the water. The tran- 

 sition from their natural environment to captivity in a small con- 

 crete tank can only be unimaginably traumatic. 



The capture process itself, where animals are rounded up, netted, 

 lassoed, or driven into shallow water and separated from their com- 

 panions is incredibly cruel and stressful. 



The public has received the message of conservation and habitat 

 protection. We urge the Congress to maintain and support that. 



Third, the Marine Mammal Protection Act should be amended to 

 prohibit all forms of direct contact between the public and marine 

 mammals. We believe that petting pools, feeding programs, and 

 swim-with-the-dolphin programs do not constitute legitimate forms 

 of public display under the Act. 



We believe there is a strong potential for tragedy in these forced 

 interactions and we oppose them. 



Fourth, the MMPA should be amended to prohibit the intentional 

 feeding of marine mammals in the wild. We strongly supported 

 NMFS when it issued regulations banning this disruptive practice. 

 Feeding wild marine mammals may habituate them to the ap- 

 proach of boats which could result in injury and may cause disrup- 

 tion of natural foraging patterns and result in introduction of 

 pathogens and parasites. 



Fifth, the Marine Mammal Protection Act should require that the 

 disposition of stranded marine mammals be strictly regulated. The 

 Marine Mammal Protection Act is unclear about the disposition of 

 stranded animals and this should be clarified. 



