Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Senator Kerry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As usual, my friend 

 and very interested partner in these issues from Alaska is here. I 

 would ask if you have any opening comments. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVENS 



Senator Stevens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be 

 here again with you. 



I believe this is the way to fashion legislation. We have the pro- 

 posal that has been worked out by the agency, and now we have 

 another proposal worked out by the environmental community and 

 the fishing industry. 



I look forward to being able to join you and Senator Rollings and 

 other interested members of the committee in proposing legislation 

 to deal with this issue. It is essential that we do deal with it this 

 year. 



Today's testimony will be the start of a long process which will 

 resolve this issue here and in the House. I am pleased to be with 

 you. 



Again, I congratulate you, because I think it is very good that we 

 get on this as early as possible and that the MMPA be further 

 amended to include this new agreement as it is fashioned here 

 today. I assume the service is going to be willing to yield a little 

 bit and that we are going to find some way to mesh these proposals 

 together, so thank you very much. 



Senator Kerry. Thank you. Senator Stevens. I agree. I hope we 

 can find good ground. I think there is, as I sat and looked at these 

 issues, so let us proceed. 



Dr. Foster, thank you for being with us today. Dr. Hofman, like- 

 wise. We appreciate it. 



Without further ado, we turn to you for your opening state- 

 ments? 



STATEMEIVT OF DR. NANCY FOSTER, ACT^G ASSISTANT AD- 

 MINISTRATOR FOR FISHERIES, NATIONAL MARINE FISH- 

 ERIES SERVICE; ACCOMPANIED BY DR. THOMAS EAGLE, 

 FISHERY BIOLOGIST, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERV- 

 ICE 



Dr. Foster. Thank you, Mr, Chairman. 



As you indicated, I do know my name sometimes. My name is 

 Nancy Foster, and at the present time I am the Acting Assistant 

 Administrator for Fisheries. 



I want to tell you how much I appreciate this opportunity to ap- 

 pear before this committee to talk again about the MMPA. I am 

 just going to summarize briefly some of my remarks, and I have 

 submitted my testimony for the record. 



Senator Kerry. Without objection, the full testimonies will be 

 placed in the record as if read. 

 . Dr. Foster. Thank you. 



As you indicated, when we set about the business of coming up 

 with our proposal to replace the interim exemption, we knew that 

 we had to do two things. We had to come up with a proposal that 

 adequately protected marine mammals and one that did so allow- 



