ISO 



Dr. White. I suppose it would be possible to do that. 



Mr. McClosket. That would also protect against foreign flag fish- 

 ermen who would then have no canneries available at least at the 

 present time? 



Mr, Brewer. There is a foreign market for tuna, so we have made 

 efforts to keep the American industry viable. That is an underlying 

 thing. It would be hard to know the effect if we drove them 'to a 

 foreign flag. 



Mr. McClosket. At the present time over half the market for tuna 

 is m the United States? 



Dr. "White. It is very large, yes. 



Mr, McClosket. I suppose we might ultimately have to cope with 

 a situation where an observer program is so onerous it drove all 

 tuna to the foreign markets. We do not face that at the present time. 



Has a decision been reached whether Commerce or Interior will 

 have jurisdiction over ocean mining? 



Dr. White. It is still in the balance. 



Mr. McClosket. My own vote might depend on how this law is 

 enforced. Mr. Dingall said if we gave Commerce the responsibility 

 it would be like putting a fox in charge of the chicken coop, but 

 that is something: else. 



I want to compliment you for accepting the goal of near zero mor- 

 tality. That is a significant achievement. Thank you. 



Mr. Leggett. Thank you, Mr. McCloskey. 



I want to get back to the eastern spinner. 



Now, apparently, according to your final regulations, you have 

 looked at both the eastern spinner and the white bellied spinner on 

 the basis of 95 percent accuracy, based on that, you have determined 

 that the eastern spinner is depleted, and, therefore, no taking should 

 be allowed in spite of the fact that the Environmental Defense 

 Fund recommended the numbers as you indicated, the Tuna Boat 

 xVssociation recommended 6,500, and the administrative law iudjre, 

 6,500. J * 



Now, the white bellied spinner, you recommended with respect to 

 those last October that in spite of the fact that their population was 

 in a range between 379,000 as the 95 percent accurate number, 

 460,000 as the reasonably accurate number and 549.000 as the medium 

 number, you recommended a taking of zero, the Environmental De- 

 fense Fund recommended 8,500, the Marine Mammal Commission 

 recommended 7,800, and the Tuna Boat Association recommended 

 17.000. The law judge recommended 17,000. 



You recommended 7,810. So the question is, is that inconsistent 

 with your action on the eastern spinner, Dr. White? 



Dr. White. Mr. Chairman, we considered separately the circum- 

 stances surrounding each species. 



In the case of the white bellied spinner, because we found it in a 

 decreased mode, originally our proposals were for a zero allowable 

 kill in order to be virtually certain that we could reverse that and 

 have it increase. 



Now, we find that the projected foreign kill for the white bellied 

 spinners was more. It was 5,341 animals more than the kill that would 

 be allowable if you wanted to be virtually certain of reversing that 



