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Summary 



Alaska Natives have relied on marine mammals for their food, 

 handicrafts, and culture for centuries. They have successfully 

 managed their use of marine mammals, assuring that no more is taken 

 than is needed. They have created marine mammal commissions to 

 protect these uses, and to formalize Native management. 



The Native take exemption in section 101(b) of the MMPA 

 recognizes these factors by allowing Native take to be regulated 

 only by Alaska Natives unless a species is found to be depleted. 

 The exemption has worked well over the past 22 years, and should 

 not be amended. There are, however, at least three ways in which 

 the MMPA can be improved as it pertains to Alaska Native uses of 

 marine mammals: 



1. The work of Native communities and commissions has been 

 increasingly constrained by the lack of funding. I recommend 

 that Congress authorize an appropriation directly to the 

 Native community so that it may extend and expand its work at 

 data collection, self-regulation, and development of 

 comanagement mechanisms. 



2. The potential threats to marine mammals from pollution of 

 their ecosystem is of great concern. Additional funding is 

 needed to study these threats — with full and equal 

 involvement of Alaska Natives — and mechanisms should be 

 added to protect marine mammal habitat. 



3. At present, Alaska Natives and their relatives in Russia, 

 Canada, and Greenland are not allowed to import marine mammal 

 products that they own or that they received or are bringing 

 as gifts. This simply makes no sense; the MMPA should be 

 amended to allow importation of personal items and gifts. 



Detailed testimony 



I will divide my testimony into five parts: the importance of 

 uses of marine mammals to Native nutrition and culture; the 

 effective steps being taken by the Native community to ensure 

 conservation of marine mammal species; the value of a comanagement 

 approach to management of marine mammals in Alaska; the effects of 

 pollution on marine mammals and the Alaska Natives who rely on them 

 for food; and suggestions for amendments to strengthen the MMPA, 

 especially with respect to issues that would affect Native 

 subsistence uses. 



The importance of marine mammals to Alaska Natives 



As the Congress has consistently recognized over the past 22 

 years, the use of marine mammals by Alaska Natives (and those in 

 Canada, Greenland, and Russia) is an integral part of their way of 

 life. Marine mammals of all kinds, notably including walrus, polar 



