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We now have a high level of understanding of the social structures and behaviors of 

 marine mammal species in the wild. We know that most exhibit long-term familial 

 bonds and in general are socially complex, long-lived, mentally sophisticated creatures. 

 Cetacean species may travel up to 50 to 100 miles a day, dive several hundred feet deep, 

 and spend only 20% of their time at the surface of the water. The transition from their 

 natural environment to captivity in a small concrete tank can only be unimaginably 

 traumatic. A symbol of all that is wrong with removing these animals from their natural 

 environment is the collapsed dorsal fin seen in most captive killer whales, probably the 

 result of spending more than half of their time at the surface of their tanks. This 

 phenomenon is observed in less than 1% of wild killer whales. 



The capture process itself, where animals are rounded up, netted or lassoed, or driven 

 into shallow water, snatched from family and removed from the water, is incredibly cruel 

 and stressful. Recent revelations concerning the terribly inhumane drive fishery capture 

 method underscore the problem with allowing the removal from the wild of these 

 animals. U.S. interests have been involved in subsidizing the Japanese drive fisheries, 

 where hundreds of dolphins are killed to provide a handful of individuals for sale to 

 marine parks and aquaria. Only prohibition of this cruel practice will guarantee that 

 such abuses will end. 



The public has received the message of conservation and habitat protection. The 

 message will be reinforced through various media, such as wildlife videos and interactive 

 displays, as well as eco-tourism, shore-based observations, and marine parks that display 

 captive-bred or stranded animals. The public, as demonstrated by recent polls in which 

 as many as 70% of respondents were opposed to the capture of wild dolphins, has 

 realized that snatching these magnificent creatures from their natural home, to exist in 

 confinement in circumstances wholly alien to their experience, is no longer necessary for 

 education and certainly not for entertainment and in itself does not support a 

 conservation message. 



Concerning import and export, we advocate the outright prohibition of these practices. 

 Imports may encourage foreign facilities to become an indirect source of wild-caught 

 animals for U.S. facilities unwilling to weather the increasing controversy over wild 

 captures. Exports increase the potential that animals will find themselves in sub- 

 standard situations abroad. Certainly it is unlikely that NMFS and APHIS have been or 

 will be able to adequately inspect and certify foreign facilities before granting them U.S. 

 permits, given real-world personnel and budgetary constraints. 



Representative Mike Bilirakis of Florida has introduced H.R. 656, which addresses the 

 issue of export of captive marine mammals. He and the co-sponsors of 656 have 

 recognized the threat to the well-being of those animals that are sent out of this country 



