REAUTHORIZATION OF THE MARINE 

 MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT 



WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 



U.S. Senate, 

 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 



Washington, DC. 



The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:05 p.m., in room 

 SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John F. Kerry, 

 presiding. 



Staff members assigned to this hearing: Lila H. Helms and Pe- 

 nelope D. Dalton, professional staff members; and John A. Moran, 

 minority staff counsel. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR KERRY 



Senator Kerry. The hearing will come to order. 



I apologize for being a moment behind here. This is the second 

 hearing on issues that are to be addressed in the reauthorization 

 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is going to be intro- 

 duced later this summer. At a hearing earlier this year, we dis- 

 cussed the reauthorization with respect to incidental takings, 

 which is one of the two primary issues. 



Today, we focus on the second primary issue, which is the ques- 

 tion of public display and scientific research. This summer, millions 

 of Americans have been entertained by a film called "Free Willy," 

 which is about a troubled young boy who befriends a whale that 

 is taken from its ocean habitat and put into an aquarium. The 

 story has touched a great many people, because of the efforts of 

 this child to try to find humane conditions for this whale and ulti- 

 mately free him. 



The people that have seen the movie have had a chance to do 

 what many say the public display of marine mammals is supposed 

 to do, which is bring people closer to an understanding of our rela- 

 tionship to them and an understanding of nature and ecosystems. 

 On the other hand, it has also raised other questions that many 

 have always raised about the habitat in which these mammals are 

 kept, about the permitting process, about the conditions in which 

 they live, and about the treatment which they are afforded. 



I think today it will be interesting to hear from witnesses about 

 the conditions depicted in that movie and to answer the questions 

 of whether or not it is possible for marine mammals to be so treat- 

 ed here in aquariums in this country under our regulations, which 

 we have in place in the United States. 



I might add that the movie was not shot in the United States. 

 It was shot in another country under conditions which our laws do 



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