MARINE MAMMALS 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1971 



House of Representatr^s, 

 Committee of Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 

 Subcommittee on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation, 



Washington^ D.C. 



The subcommittee convened at 9 :30 a.m., in room 1334, Longworth 

 Office Building, Hon. John D. Dingell, chairman of the subcommit- 

 tee, presiding. 



Mr. Dingell. The subcommittee will come to order. 



The Chair announces that we have a very extensive witness list, 

 and a very limited amount of time, and because of the pendency of 

 legislation on the floor this afternoon in which this committee is very 

 directly interested, that is the ocean dumping legislation, it will be 

 necessary for the committee to proceed expeditiously as possible. 



For that reason, the Chair prays the indulgence of the membership 

 in reducing the amount of time and number of questions for each 

 witness. 



I am sure the membership will cooperate as fully as possible. 



The schedule of witnesses and the time of their appearance is be- 

 fore each member. 



The first witness was to be our distinguished chairman, the Honor- 

 able Edward Garmatz, who is detained elsewhere in another meeting, 

 and as soon as he has concluded that matter, he will be here. 



I would like to say at the outset of these hearings that this sub- 

 committee approaches the subject of marine mammal protection with 

 open minds and no preconceptions as to the best way to deal with the 

 problems which these animals confront. 



That there are problems I think no one can deny. For years men 

 have been killing whales and other marine mammals "as though there 

 were no tomorrow," and while the evidence to support this theory 

 may from time to time appear impressive. I think we must assume 

 that tomorrow will happen and that we cannot continue to invade our 

 biological capital without exposing ourselves to risks which we would 

 be better advised to avoid. 



The range of animals comprehended by most of the legislation 

 before this committee includes whales, seals, walruses, sea otters, polar 

 bears, and the sea cows, the largest species of which known to man has 

 already been hunted to extinction. These animals are found on the 

 high seas, in territorial waters and on U.S. lands. Their current pro- 

 tection varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from species to 

 species. 



Federal interest in these animals varies widely as well. With the 

 single exception of the Alaska fur seal, our research efforts to leam 



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