249 



Mr. Alverson. Mr. Leggett, may I make one comment? 



Mr. Leggett. I do not think he contradicted yon. 



Mr. Alverson. I just wanted to clarify a point. Mr. Butler said ] 

 presented this information before the administrative law judge. I 

 presented as much of the information and as up-to-date as possible 

 before this committee last September. 



Mr. Leggett. Thank you. 



OK. thank you Very much. It has been very helpful. 



Now my record shows that we have two witnesses left: Mr. Fen- 

 sterwald and Mrs. Stevens. Do you have any choice as between you 

 on who would like to go first? 



Mr. Fensterwald. I will defer to the lady, of course, Mr. Chair- 

 man. 



Mr. Leggett. I will give Mrs. Stevens another opportunity to 

 testify then — other than as the last witness. 



STATEMENT OF CHRISTINE STEVENS, SECRETARY, SOCIETY FOR 

 ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION 



Mrs. Stevens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I will be very brief. 



I testified very recently, so I will not go into extensive testimony. 



Mr. Leggett. That is very thoughtful of you. 



Mrs. Stevens. Well, I am glad you feel that way. 



Mr. Leggett. Not that the content of your statement is not always 

 good. 



Mrs. Stevens. Well, Mr. Chairman, this is all I have, so, as you 

 can see, it is not long. 



We feel that the new regulations are a step in the right direction, 

 but they really have not done enough for the dolphins. We have been 

 hearing all day long that they are too strong. The fact is they are 

 really not as strong as they ought to be, but there regulations are a 

 help. Certainly they ought to be enforced. 



There may' be some modifications with relation to the spinner 

 dolphins, if that is necessary, Mr. Chairman, to make it perfectly 

 clear that if one dolphin, as we have heard several times, was caught 

 by mistake, that might subject a person to the criminal penalties in 

 the act — and that is not what we want. 



Obviously, this is not the intent of the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service or anyone else. 



I would emphasize again, however, that there has been no penalty- 

 criminal or otherwise — levied under this act, with respect to inci- 

 dental killing of dolphins. So it is very difficult to see why anybody 

 would be very worried if they caught one spinner by mistake — 

 after they, for years, have been catching as many as 700 dolphins 

 in a single set and never been penalized. It rather boggles the mind. 



The goal must continue to be zero, Mr. Chairman. That is most 

 important. And I believe that just as we have seen real progress 

 this year with the Elizabeth C.J. crew, we will see other outstanding 

 progress if we do not fall back and eliminate the incentive for such 

 progress. 



I think Mr. Alverson was talking about Captain Jorges' cruise. 

 The point is, when he caught almost 1,000 tons of tuna, he only killed 



