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marine resources by reducing sea urchin populations, thereby enhanc- 

 ing kelp growth, which, in turn, supports rock fish nurseries. 



Because repeated attempts will be made to change State laws to per- 

 mit reductions in our small precarious marine mammal populations, 

 which are subject to increasing jeopardy from environmental degrada- 

 tion, survival of the southern sea otters would be enhanced by a strong 

 bill to protect marine mammals. 



H.R. 10420 and H.R. 6558 are worthy attempts to preserve the marine 

 mammals associated with the shores of the United States. These ani- 

 mals, as I have indicated, are in jeopardy not only due to their exploita- 

 tion but due to pollutants that are causing a general deterioration of 

 our marine environment. Strong legislation is essential to the survival 

 of these animals. 



Mr. Vandevere. I would like to show a 2-minute film to introduce 

 you to the southern sea otter of California. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Very good. 



(Showing of film.) 



Mr. Vandevere. The only place where sea otters occur naturally in 

 the continental United States is a 160-mile stretch of California's coast. 

 They were thought to be extinct like many marine mammal species. 



Mature females give birth to a single pup no more often than once 

 every 2 years. 



Marine mammals do not bear more than one young at a time. Life is 

 just too harsh. 



My observations have shown the southern sea otters to feed primarily 

 on molluscs, arthropods, and echinoderms. 



Mothers take care of their pups for almost a year. They show great 

 concern and interest for each other when faced with danger — ^the 

 danger of man — and will alert each other and dive to get out of man's 

 way. 



On the 26th of this month, Jacques- Yves Consteau will begin his 

 new television series with an hour-long docimientary on the sea 

 otter, the first quarter will be on the Alaskan sea otter. 



He is using some of my footage and I appear in the film as well. I was 

 his scientific adviser for this documentary. 



In 1959, acting Governor Glenn Anderson, who is a member of 

 this subcommittee and the author of bill H.R. 10420, signed into law 

 a bill which extended the reserve of the sea otter from the Carmel 

 River to the city of Cambria. 



Now, the California Department of Fish and Game and some sport 

 and commercial abalone interests are wrongly contending that the 

 reserve created by his signature was intended to confine the sea otters 

 to the area between the Carmel River and the town of Cambria. 



They charge that the sea otters have ecsaped from this zone of 

 protection and are occupying areas north and south of their 1959 

 expanded refuge. 



It is my understanding that something has happened to the Pribilof 

 fur seal population this season which the wildlife managers are unable 

 to account for; there has been a great drop in the Pribilof fur seal 

 population. 



I am also concerned as to the fate of the porpoises which fall victim 

 off Chile to the tuna fishermen. They use these porpoises to discover 

 the schools of tuna. The fisherman accidentally kill the porpoises 



