26 



government should follow suit with respect to marine mammals as 

 well. 



Therefore, we request amendments in the Marine Mammal Pro- 

 tection Act to give us the vehicles for co-management in research 

 regulation, monitoring and enforcement. 



Two of the points I would like to make about the Marine Mam- 

 mal Protection Act with respect to native use of marine mammals. 

 First, I urge the Congress not to depart from the current tools for 

 measuring the health of the species. 



I am particularly concerned with the language in the latest 

 House draft which would create a new category of "critical". And 

 would set allowable levels of take through the enactment of so- 

 called PBR, potential biological removals. The Alaskan native com- 

 munity feels that these are not necessary to resolve the issue of il- 

 legal take of marine mammals by commercial fisherman. 



While strictly speaking this is not an issue of this hearing, we 

 feel strongly enough that I should mention it. The second point I 

 would like to make concerns the importation of marine mammal 

 parts into the United States. At the present time, if I take a parka 

 to Canada with the polar bear ruff, I cannot bring it back home. 



My cousins (by the way I have relatives in Russia), cannot wear 

 their sealskin boots when they come over to visit me. 



I thank the Committee for the draft bill that properly fixes this 

 situation. I would like to request further that the law allow impor- 

 tation of native handicrafts by tourists who travel into Russia, 

 Greenland and Canada. Such importation would be allowed only if 

 the other country of visit has a protective law like MMPA in place 

 and be consistent with section 11(b) of the Marine Mammal Protec- 

 tion Act. 



Alaskan natives and the natives in those other countries have 

 few sources of income and the sale of handicrafts is as important 

 to them as it is to us. 



As I said when I started, the threat of survival of the marine 

 mammals does not and will not come from the native community. 

 It will come from those activities and actions of the industrialized 

 world. There is currently clear evidence of accumulation of heavy 

 metals, PCB's, DDT, and other organic compounds in the organs 

 and fat tissues of marine mammals. 



The native people are probably the only people in the world 

 where the health authorities and research scientists have rec- 

 ommended the continued consumption of contaminated food be- 

 cause there are little or no other alternatives. The industrialized 

 world is not ready to reduce its emission of pollutants into the en- 

 vironment. And we would ask that Congress direct the public 

 health and Federal agencies to investigate the levels of contamina- 

 tion and the risk to human health. 



I appreciate this opportunity to testify. I would be happy to an- 

 swer any questions. Thank you. 



[Statement of Mr. Pungowiyi can be found at the end of the hear- 

 ing.] 



Mr. Studds. Thank you very much, sir. Now, as I have said, we 

 are going to apply the five-minUte rule to ourselves as well. Dr. 

 Tyack, now that we have resolved the problem of the harassment 

 of scientists, at least I think we have, I would like to hear a little 



