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We are concerned about the protection of porpoise. The tuna industry has 

 shown a remarkable improvement in the reduction of the take of porpoise in 

 the last five years. We are working with the rest of the tuna industry to reduce 

 this take still further. Of those porpoise surrounded by purse seine nets, 98.7% 

 are freed. The small percentage (1.3%) taken today will be reduced even 

 further as modern technology improves and is applied. 



However, should you not grant relief and thereby permit the law to prohibit 

 or limit severely the seining of tuna in association with porpoise, not only 

 will you strangle the tuna industry in this country but you will also thereby 

 ironically increase the porpoise taken and killed throughout the world. The 

 reason is simple — foreign fishermen are under no such restrictions as U.S. 

 fishermen. They do not have the porpoise saving gear and techniques, and they 

 do not have the skills in the handling of purse seine nets. They will move their 

 vessels into the porpoise schools being abandoned by U.S. vessels and slaughter 

 porpoise indiscriminately. 



In your capacity of representing the American people, I most vigorously 

 urge you to give consideration to the jobs involved, to the nutrition involved, 

 to the economy involved and, indeed, to the porpoise involved, and make it 

 possible for US. tuna vessels and their crews to continue to fish for tuna in 

 association with porpoise. 



I will appear subsequently in person here in Washington and will visit with 

 each and everyone of you to bring you this message personally. I thank you for 

 the opportunity of submitting this statement today. 



STATEMENT OF JOHN J. ROYAL, FISHERMEN AND ALLIED WORK- 

 ERS' UNION OF SAN PEDRO AND SAN DIEGO, CALIF., AND INTER- 

 NATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S AND WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, 

 AS PRESENTED BY PATRICK TOBIN, INTERNATIONAL LONG- 

 SHOREMEN'S AND WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION 



Mr. Tobin. I just want to add very briefly that our union represents 

 the fishermen on the boats throughout California; however, if this 

 industry is more seriously damaged, or if it does not survive, it means 

 jobs for men throughout our union, and I think in the area there are 

 thousands of jobs that are dependent on tuna fish and I think that 

 many good-meaning people are working the situation so that in pro- 

 tecting the life of the mammals, they are endangering the livelihood 

 of millions of human beings. 



Concern must be given first to the human beings involved in the 

 industry. 



We support all those efforts by the Government and the boat owners 

 to improve the situation so that the mammal catch is down to a mini- 

 mum, but I do want to remind those involved that when this legisla- 

 tion was passed, as Mr. Royal mentions in his testimony, we were 

 assured that the industry would not be placed in a position that it is 

 in at the moment. 



It is our belief that what was stated by a Congressperson here and 

 others, that should there be trouble, we should come back for relief 

 and obviously relief is needed and needed very quickly or this indus- 

 try will not survive. 



The ships will go under foreign flags. 



It means that our members will be out of work and all the attendant 

 unemployment that will take place as a result of the loss of the 

 American tuna industry. 



