91 



I am president of the monitor consortium of 22 environmental, 

 conservation and animal welfare groups. I am speaking today on 

 behalf of four of the organizations in the consortium : the American 

 Littoral Society, the Connecticut Cetacean Society, the Fund for 

 Animals, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, USA, and 

 the National Parks and Conservation Association, and the Chesa- 

 peake Chapter of the American Littoral Society. 



"We are pleased to note that this committee has no proposed 

 amendments to the MMPA of 1972 before it at the present time. 



We assume that the purpose of the hearing is oversight of how 

 well the Department of Commerce, the Marine Mammal Commis- 

 sion and the tuna industry are doing to discharge their responsi- 

 bilities under the MMPA. 



This committee is to be commended for the role that it has played 

 in making it clear to the executive branch of the Government and the 

 tuna industry that Congress insists that the provisions of the act 

 be carried out. 



We sincerely hope that now, at long last, as progress is being made 

 in the direction of achieving the act's goal of porpoise mortality 

 approaching zero, that ill advised efforts to amend the act are not 

 made. 



The world is watching to see what happens to the act now that 

 the tuna/porpoise provisions are being actually brought into play 

 for the first time in 3 years. At two very important international 

 conservation meetings held in November and December of 1976, the 

 U.S. Government was urged to fully enforce the MMPA and the 

 Congress was urged to maintain the integrity of the act and to 

 resist all attempts^ to weaken it with specific reference to the porpoise 

 protection provisions of the act. 



May I ask that the resolution of the Fourth International Con- 

 gress of the World Wildlife Fund, held in San Francisco, U.S.A., 

 November 29 through December 1, 1976, be entered into the record 

 and that note be taken that this resolution was endorsed by the 

 Survival Service Commission of the International Union for the 

 Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources at its meeting at Kino 

 Bay, Mexico, the following week? 



Mr. Leggett. Without objection, it will be included in the record. 



[The material was not available at time of printing.] 



Mr. Kaotmanx. Mr. Chairman, we would recommend that the 

 •committee consider, at the earliest possible time, sending a letter 

 from the committee to the Chief Investigator of the Inter- American 

 Tropical Tuna Commision, Dr. James Joseph. He is the individual 

 charged by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission with 

 preparing an international research and development program to 

 require international coordinated effort. 



The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission will hold a spe- 

 cial meeting prior to July 1, 1977 to address the tuna/porpoise prob- 

 lem. - 



Further, we hope that the State and Commerce Departments will 

 "begin tuna/porpoise protection bilateral negotiations very soon. 



Dr. Joseph is in New Zealand at the present time ; and it is our 

 .understanding that not a great deal of progress is made at the rao- 



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