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feel that comprehensively care and maintenance issues have been 

 addressed? 



Mr. Hall. Those will be addressed by the Department of Agri- 

 culture in its rulemaking process, so when you talk about the care 

 of the animals and the standards in the facilities, that is a respon- 

 sibility of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the 

 Department of Agriculture, but they are relying heavily on our 

 science and our biologists to develop the standards that will be 

 needed. 



Senator Kerry. Are you satisfied with the level of cooperation 

 between NOAA, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the USDA folks, 

 and so forth? 



Mr. Hall. I think so. Senator. I have not had enough experience 

 to really have an opinion about that, but I believe that they seem 

 like they are working very cooperatively on this process. 



Senator Kerry. How are you defining — and this goes back to the 

 education issue we were talking about a moment ago — ^how are you 

 defining the criteria for an acceptable education program at a pub- 

 lic display facility? 



Mr. Collins. Senator, I do not think the agency is attempting to 

 regulate every detail of the education program of a public display 

 industry or facility. It is basically whether — the criteria are basi- 

 cally whether the educational program presents accurate informa- 

 tion to the public about the life history. 



Senator Kerry. Well, what about something like the swim-with- 

 the-dolphins programs? There is a video tape that is somewhat con- 

 troversial of a swim-with-the-dolphins program in Florida — one 

 swim with program — and then you have Senator Inouye who is 

 here strongly commending another type of swim-with-the-dolphins 

 program in Hawaii. How do you compare the two, and what stand- 

 ards will be applied? 



Mr. Hall. We are in the process right now, and there are four 

 facilities in the United States that have these type of programs, 

 one in Hawaii and three in Florida, and one of the facilities in Flor- 

 ida is the place where the film, the video was taken that you re- 

 ferred to. At all four facilities, we are conducting a review and we 

 are examining the health of the participating dolphins and deter- 

 mining getting more scientific information about the impact on the 

 animals and whether this is an activity that should continue. 



Senator Kerry. Let me ask you this. Before you even get to the 

 impact, assuming for a moment that there is no negative impact, 

 what is the positive impact, other than the thrill, other than sort 

 of coming out and saying, gee, I swam with a dolphin and wasn't 

 that wonderful? Is there really that much gained that you can de- 

 fine that merits that kind of intrusion? 



Mr. Hall. Senator, you are asking a question and I have not per- 

 sonally witnessed these types of programs and I do not really feel 

 I am in a position to offer an opinion about it. 



Senator Kerry. Well, imagine yourself jumping in the water and 

 swimming around with a dolphin for a while, and then you come 

 out. What do you think you would have gained from that experi- 

 ence that you could not gain by watching them and learning about 

 them and studying them and their faculties and their way of life 

 and so forth? 



