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-- the need to care for and place abandoned or otherwise unwanted 

 marine mammals, especially pinnipeds. Although this problem is 

 likely to occur only in the most marginal of facilities, it is 

 nonetheless a potential problem for all public display 

 facilities; as the Cape Cod incident clearly illustrates. In our 

 proposed revised permit regulations we propose a method for 

 beginning to address this problem. These proposed regulations 

 provide for, and we would much prefer, industry self -regulation 

 and pre -placement planning on this issue. However, only 

 60 percent of public display facilities are members of either the 

 American Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the Alliance of 

 Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums. And, even if these groups 

 agree to placement of marine mammals among their member 

 institutions, there will always be a number of public display 

 facilities that will not be included in any association- sponsored 

 placement plan for abandoned marine mammals. It is for these 

 facilities that the proposed permit regulations propose a surety 

 bond that, upon abandonment or seizure of captive marine mammals, 

 may be invoked by NMFS to defray at least some of the expenses of 

 the permit holder that assumes temporary or long-term custody of 

 such marine mammals. 



NMFS believes that this and similar difficult problems 

 increasingly jeopardize the health and welfare of captive marine 

 mammals, and must be addressed directly. Again, to the extent 

 possible, these problems should be addressed by the public 



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