243 



Mr. Leggett. Mr. Mannina? 



Mr. Manntna. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. McCloskey was hopeful that you would submit for the record 

 he number of porpoises taken by each vessel of more than 400 tons 

 n 1976, according to the skipper's logbook. Is that information avail- 

 ble from you or from the National Marine Fisheries Service ? 



Mr. Felando. It is available from the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service. All we do is obtain copies. I think your most direct source 

 rould be the National Marine Fisheries Service. 



Mr. Leggett. We can request that of them, George. 



Mr. Felando. I would like to point out that that rule came about 

 s the result of regulatory hearings in the latter part of 1974. Even 

 xovernment representatives at that time from the region testified 

 hey thought it was a useless piece of paperwork. The director of the 

 inter- American Tropica] Tuna Commission though that that type of 

 eport was not valuable. 



Frankly, we think it is not valuable, either, because no one relies 

 >n that information for any real scientific work. The information is 

 tased on a random selection of vessels by the Government, and the 

 >lacement of observers on those vessels. And it is that sample size 

 hat is the basis for the statistics of the Government, which everyone 

 nassages. And this system was developed in 1974. No, in 1973. 



The fact is that really when you look at it, there has been a limited 

 >eriod of time in the development of the statistics on this whole prob- 

 em. And one of the difficulties — and I assure you of this — is that 

 ven on this mixed school situation, Mr. Chairman, we do not have a 

 eal good sample size for 1972, which is the year that we think we are 

 n, Mr. Chairman, in the sense of fishing conditions. 



Mr. Leggett. Thank you very much. 



Now we will have the Marine Mammal Commission and we will 

 Lear from Dr. Chapman. Dr. Chapman is accompanied by Mr. 

 Cisenbud. 



TATEMENT OF DOUGLAS CHAPMAN, CHAIRMAN, MARINE 

 MAMMAL COMMISSION; ACCOMPANIED BY ROBERT EISENBUD, 

 COUNSEL 



Dr. Chapman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Leggett. Is there a statement? 



Dr. Chapman. Yes, Mr. Chairman. 



Thank you for the opportunity to be present on behalf of the 

 Marine Mammal Commission. 



As vou mentioned, I do have Mr. Eisenbud, the general counsel of 

 he Commission, with me. We did not plan to make a statement, 

 mt there were several references by Dr. White this morning — testi- 

 ! ying for NOAA — concerning the depleted status of the eastern spin- 

 ier porpoise stocks, and references were made to the Commission and 

 he Commission's position, I thought that perhaps we should amplify 

 i. little on that and I have prepared, in the interim, a short statement 

 vhen I will read, with your permission. 



Mr. Leggett. All right. 



You may go ahead and read it. 



