528 



Statement of Sierra Club on Protection of Marine Mammals Prepared by 

 Robert Hughes, Chairman, Wildlife and Endangered Spexjies Committee 



The Sierra Club policy on protection of marine mammals is as follows : The 

 Sierra Club favors prohibition of all hunting for and harassment of marine 

 mammals (such as seals, whales, mantees and dugongs (sea cows), sea otters, 

 sea lions, polar bears, porpoises, dolphins, and walruses) with the exception 

 of: (1) occasional specimens captured for scientific reseairch and zoos, (2) 

 hunting by native Americans for the sole use of their families, and (3) carefully 

 managed seal harvests, so long as the exception of these activities does not 

 endanger marine mammal populations. 



The spirit and intent of this resolution is much closer to Rep. Pryor's Ocean 

 Mammal Protection Act (as amended, HR 10569), and the committee is urged 

 to give positive consideration to this legislation. 



The Sierra Club also commends the efforts of Rep. Anderson in his Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act (H.R. 10420), and we have long recognized the benefits of 

 scientific management practices in certain carefully regulated circumstances. 

 However, we believe that HR 10420 could be improved upon in several respects 

 and is not rigorous enough to meet the problems most marine mammal populations 

 are now faced with. 



H.R. 10420 defines the term "marine mammal" to include any seal, whale, 

 walrus, dugong, manatee, sea otter, sea lion, polar bear, porpoise, or dolphin. 

 Only one species, the Alaska fur seal, of these marine mammals is the object 

 of successful management. 



The Alaska fur seal population has grown from about 200,000 in 1911 when 

 an international agreement eliminated the taking on the high seas and made 

 sound wildlife management policies possible. Today, according to Howard W. 

 Pollock, Acting Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- 

 tion, of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Alaska seal herds contain a pop- 

 ulation of about 1.3 million. This year's quota is 40,000 seals to be killed. Across 

 the continent in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the harp seal is the hunter's object 

 and the quota for the year is 245,000 pups. There is considerable concern over 

 the harp seal's ability to withstand the pressure of such a large kill and some 

 evidence of a population decline. The Philippi's fur seal was long assumed ex- 

 tinct until a population of 30 was discovered in 1968 on Masatrierra off Chile. 

 Prior to 1890 over 3 million of these seals were killed in one 7 year period. 

 It is now protected by the Chilean government. The Mediterranean monk seal's 

 declining population is now believed to be less than 500. It is often illegally 

 shot. The Caribbean monk seal was last seen in 1962 off Yucatan. The Hawaiian 

 monk seal nvunbers about 1,500 but is increasing at about 12% per year. Most 

 of it's habitat is now a refuge. The ribbon seal is bountied in Alaska for 3 dollars 

 per skin. This is not a common seal and is usually taken by the natives. Bounties 

 are not justified. 



The Department of Commerce has banned commercial whaling by this coun- 

 try's one whaling firm after December 31. The United States quota as set by 

 the International Whaling Commission is 166 whales. Russia and Japan each 

 have a quota of almost 10,000 whales each. The largest mammal in the earth's 

 history, the blue whale had a world population of 30-40,000 in the mid 1950's 

 and within 10 years was reduced to about 1,000 animals. The cosmopolitan hump- 

 back whale is rapidly declining in all waters except the North Atlantic where 

 it is protected. The four species of right whales exist only in relict populations. 

 The Pacific gray whale now stands at about 8,000 and is protected although a 

 major breeding ground, Scammon Lagoon in Baja California, has been rumored 

 to be a site for major resort development and the Mexican government has re- 

 ceived requests to allow whaling in the lagoon. Estimates of a one-third reduc- 

 tion in the Antarctic population of the sei whale have been made with 55.000 

 taken between 1963 and 1967. The fin whale, a target of the U.S. whaling firm 

 has gone from a population of 110,000 in 1955 to about 33,000 in 1963. This 

 whale is still being overfished. 



The whales need the protection of new legislation and new treaties. The In- 

 ternational Whaling Commission's determinations made at its closed meetings 

 are farcical. Its quotas exceed the reproduction ability of the whales. There 

 are other sources of catfood. 



According to the lUCN the walrus is being taken by the native populations at a 

 rate in excess of its replacement capacity in many areas. 



The dugong which occurs only on the shores of the Indian and West Pacific 

 Oceans is declining everywhere although in Australia it may now be able to hold 



