Pollock, Howard W., Deputy Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmos- Page 670 Regenstein, Lewis, article from The Washington Post--- 746 Reventlow, Casa, letter of March 29, 1972__ 699 Reventlow, Victor F., Anchorage, Alaska, letter of March 29, 1972___. 699 Rich, Maxwell E., executive vice president, National Rifle Association of America, letter of February 15, 1972__- 509 St. Lawrence Village, Alaska, statement__. State of Alaska, Resolution No. 59---- Steele, George E. Jr., Steele & Utz, letter of April 5, 1972---- Stroud, Richard H., executive vice president, Sport Fishing Institute, letter 508 Towell, William E., executive vice president, the American Forestry As- 621 Townsend, B. C., Jr., vice president and general manager, Marineland, Inc., 556 Trudeau, William G., Nome, Alaska, letter of March 3, 1972_. 671 Village of Kwethluk, Alaska, telegram_ 734 Village of Kwigillingok, telegram__. 735 Weeden, Robert B., professor, University of Alaska, letter of March 27, 694 Winn, Howard E., professor of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, 609 Wongittilin, Jerry, Sr., Inupiak Development Corp., letter of March 20, 682 OCEAN MAMMAL PROTECTION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1972 U.S. SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERE Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 1318, New Senate Office Building, Hon. Ernest F. Hollings, (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Hollings, Cook, and Stevens. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR HOLLINGS Senator HOLLINGS. Good morning, the committee will come to order, the Subcommittee on Oceans and Atmosphere begins hearings today on six bills before the Senate. They are S. 1315, introduced March 23, 1971, and S. 2579, introduced September 24, 1971, both by Senator Harris of Oklahoma. Senator Packwood of Oregon has introduced S. 685 on February 9 of last year and S. 2639 on October 4. S. 2871 was introduced on November 17 by Senator Williams of New Jersey. And of February 3 of this year, I introduced S. 3112. All of these bills are concerned with the protection of ocean mammals, including the whale, walrus, manatee, sea otter, polar bear, and seal. I cannot emphasize too strongly the need to protect and preserve all elements of our natural environment. The United States is a Nation blessed by many bounties. Part of our responsibility to the world in which we live in to ensure that all species of wildlife under the jurisdiction of this Government be preserved for future generations. It is with that thought in mind that the subcommitte will be looking at this legislation. The questions before us are whether to ban outright the killing of any marine mammal under the jurisdiction of the United States, or whether the Government should continue to allow supervised and restricted taking of certain mammals. There can be little doubt that public opinion in this country is against the indiscriminate slaughter of marine mammals. Nobody wants American fishing boats to kill thousands of porpoises and Staff member assigned to these hearings: John Hussey. (1) dolphin in the process of netting fish. Nobody really favors the clubbing of thousands of fur seals. As for whale, I am sure there has been no more popular decision than that of the U.S. Government to ban whaling and close the American market to whale products. However, there remains grave concern for the future of the whale with several nations still diligently hunting them down with explosive harpoons. Unfortunately, it is understood that Japan and Russia kill the majority of all whales taken each year. And until international agreements can be worked out, our efforts may have only small effect. The House Subcommitte on Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation. ably chaired by Representative John Dingell of Michigan, conducted exhaustive hearings on this subject last fall. Some of the witnesses here today also testified before that subcommittee. It is the desire of the Subcommittee on Oceans and Atmosphere to collect the most up-to-date information possible on this subject. The bill we shall report to the full Commerce Committee will be a comprehensive one. (The bills and agency comments follow:) 92D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 685 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 9 (legislative day, JANUARY 26), 1971 Mr. PACKWOOD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce A BILL To amend the Fur Seal Act of 1966 by prohibiting the clubbing of seals after July 1, 1972, the taking of seal pups, and the taking of female seals on the Pribilof Islands or on any other land and water under the jurisdiction of the United States. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act shall be known as the "Humane Seal Protec4 tion Act of 1971". 5 SECTION 1. Section 104 of the Fur Seal Act of 1966 6 is amended by adding at the end of subsection (a) thereof 7 the following new subsections: 8 "(b) The killing of seals by clubbing shall be prohibited 9 after July 1, 1972. |