230 



I think the tuna fishermen know this is their livelihood and they 

 have a very warm and verj- affectionate feeling for the porpoises. 



I thinlv they will continually be in the forefront trs'ing to do what is 

 possible to alleviate the problem we have of inadvertently catehing 

 porpoises actually when they are fishing for yellowfish tuna. 



Mr. AxDERSox. When you mentioned this attitude on the part of 

 tuna fishennen to people who are critical of that exception in the bill 

 they laugh and sort of snicker and say we are being taken in by this, 

 that many of them do not care. 



Your feeling is generally across the board most tima fishermen do 

 want to protect the porpoises ? 



Mr. Pollock. Yes. I think the only area, of course, when you talk 

 about tima fishermen you may be t-alking about skipjack tuna and 

 other kinds of fishermen, but where the problem arises in the taking 

 of yellowfish tima, these people depend upon the porpoise for their 

 surA-ival and I think you have heard many times their expression of 

 veiT deep affection for the porpoise. 



Aside fi-om that, if that did not exist, they depend upon the por- 

 poises for their livelihood and it would be folly to try to destroy them. 



Mr. AxDERSox. You have used a figure of 350,000 or whatever figure 

 you gave us 



Mr. Pollock. I said 250,000. 



Mr. AxDERSOx. We have a figure of 250,000 we have heard of. How 

 big is that in comparison to the total jwrpoise population ? How big 

 is that ? Do we have an estimate on their population ? 



Mr. Pollock. I am not sure we know what the total is. 



Mr. AxDERSOx. 250.000 sounds terribly large to most people. 



Mr. Pollock. We do not know what the total population is. 



Mr. Ax'DERSox'. Is it up in the millions ? 



]Mr. Pollock It would be quite a high figure I would assume. 



Incidentialh', this is one of the areas, among many others, where 

 we have to do far more research than we are doing now. 



Mr. Ax'DERSox'. Xow another area I know you mention on page 3, 

 you say in activities of seal hunters of other countries, no baby seals 

 are taken on the Pribilof Islands. 



Mr. Pollock. That is correct. 



Mr. Ax'DERSOx. TMiere are they taken ? The people we talk to say do 

 you not want to protect the baby seals. 



Where are they being taken \ 



Mr. Pollock. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in Labrador I under- 

 stand, and are taken by Canadians, not by U.S. citizens. 



Mr. AxDERsox'. Is this something we tried to work out with them ? 



Mr. Pollock. Yes. 



Mr. AxDERSox. Any success ? 



Mr. Pollock. Well, it is obviously still going on but I think they are 

 very conscious of it. The public in Canada is also verv conscious of it. 

 I think there is progress. We would hope this would stop. 



Mr. Terry tells me that the whitecoats, which are the baby seals, 

 have been prohibited, or the making of coats from the white furs (the 

 white sealskin) . in Canada is now prohibited. 



Mr. AxDERSOX. The pictures I have been in the papers and so on 

 show these baby seals being slaughtered. In mv area that does not set 

 to well. 



The average person, including myself, have felt these were the Pri- 

 bilof seals. 



