208 



To the best of my knowledge there is none on any species, but I am 

 not familiar, for example, with the Indian Ocean and in some other 

 places. 



To the best of my knowldege, the answer is "No,"' but I could be 



wrong. 



Mr. DiNGELL. We have heard reports that seals are showing up in the 

 Pribilofs witli nets and net markmgs around their necks. 



Mr. McKernan. Could very well be. 



Mr. DiNGELL. Any investigation of this? 



Mr. McKernan. Could very well l>e, because there are great quan- 

 tities of salmon nets in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. 



As you know, they do rob the nets, and sometimes they are caught 

 in the'nets. These salmon caught in oc^ian nets, of course, are immobile, 

 and so the fur seals being pretty clever come up and simply take sal- 

 mon from the nets on the high seas. This does occur, and I would expect 

 the fur seals to have some net around them because of their habit of 

 taking the easy way out when there are fish caught in nets. 



Mr. Pelly. Just for the record, these are not nets that are lowered 

 by American fishermen. They are all foreign fishing vessels that put 

 down 10 mile long nets to take our salmon. 



Mr. McKernan. I will confirm that. That is correct, Mr. Pelly. 

 There are probably a few nets of U.S. fishermen around the Aleutian 

 Islands. 



The fur seals, of course, migrate as far south as Mexico, and as far 

 over as Japan in their migrations during the wintertime, and when 

 they migrate back to the Pribilofs in the Bering Sea, they migrate 

 through the Aleutian Islands. 



They might get some fish from U.S. nets in the vicinity of the Aleu- 

 tian Islands, but for the most part I think the netting is Japanese. 



Mr. Dingell. You say, however, you know of no pelagic sealing of 

 the fur seal population going on at this time? 



Mr. McKernan. That is correct. We have authority to board vessels 

 of other member nations and inspect them. 



Mr. Dingell. How about nonmember nations ? 



Mr. McKernan. We do not do so. 



Mr. Dingell. How about the Koreans? 



Mr. McKernan. Pardon ? 



Mr. Dingell. I understand the Koreans are taking these seals. 



Mr. McKernan. To the best of my knowledge that is not so. 



Mr. Dingell. Not so ? No other nations taking them ? 



Mr. McKernan. No. 



Mr. Dingell. How would your Department look on the idea of af- 

 fording legislative authority to one of the Government agencies to be 

 able to impose restrictions on import of animals taken in an inhumane 

 way, the marine mammals, or from depleted stocks? 



Mr. McKernan. I cannot speak for the Department, but I cannot 

 see any great disadvantage of this. I must confess, though, that I think 

 the appropriate way to deal with this problem is through international 

 conservation conventions and international conservation means, be- 

 cause here we would have a much more direct effect. 



Mr. Dingell. Assuming you cannot get this kind of right, and you 

 are having considerable difficulty, what about a ban on all 

 importations? 



