the application of sound biological information. Through this program the Pribilof seal herd has increased from approximately 200,000 animals during the early 1900's to its present optimum of 1.3 million. It now sustains an average annual harvest of 50,000 seals. Senate 2639 offers, at best, a questionable future for the preservation of fur seals as a species. Termination of "The Fur Seal Act" could cause the United States to lose management of this valuable resource. A cessation of harvesting would result in increased demands on the fishery resources which support the seals, and are also utilized by man. The result would be no real improvement of the herd, but only an increase of mortality by starvation, disease, parasites and other natural causes. It is possible that the fur seal population might be seriously jeopardized due to a drastic population decline caused by the factors previously described, unless present population controls are continued. Finally, if harvesting were curtailed, the 600 Pribilof Aleuts would lose the ability to support themselves in their ancestral home. Another critical side effect resulting from termination of "The Fur Seal Treaty" might be the resumption of pelagic seal hunting by other nations. Japan has expressed the desire to harvest fur seals in this manner. If the United States fails to manage this resource, other countries may have a justifiable reason for resuming pelagic hunting. The compensation provisions of S. 2639, in all likelihood, will not be adequate to prevent this possibility. There would be little if any reason for a foreign nation to accept this compensation when the potential and biological justification for harvesting a larger number of fur seals on the high seas exists. Such high seas hunting is non-selective with respect to sex and age of animals taken, and there is a substantial loss due to wounding and sinking. The present fur seal harvest program is subjected to constant and critical review. Any rational analysis of this program will reveal that it is not detrimental to the species. The term oceanic hair seals is used to differentiate between resident hair seals (ie., land-breeding harbor seals) and those populations and species present mainly, or entirely beyond the three mile limit of state territorial waters. The oceanic species include ice-breeding harbor seals, ringed seals, ribbon seals and bearded seals. All of these species are presently taken by resident Alaskans, primarily Eskimos. These seals are not the object of commercial exploitation by Amrican nationals. However, there is a substantial commercial harvest of ribbon and bearded seals by the Soviet Union. As pointed out in a report by the Honorable Ted Stevens, Senator from Alaska (Congressional Record Vol. 117, No. 100, 29 June 1971), these species presently appear to have stable populations. Estimates of numbers are: bearded seals-300,000; ringed seals250,000; ice-breeding harbor seals-200,000; and ribbon seals-150,000. Ribbon seals are probably experiencing a slow increase in numbers, after having been reduced by Soviet commercial sealing operations during the early 1960's. The estimated annual harvest of all hair seals in Alaska is about 25,000 to 30,000 animals. Approximately half of these are taken by Eskimos and used for food, clothing and the home manufacture of articles for sale. To date, all four of the oceanic hair seals have been the subjects of full time research programs by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the University of Alaska Sea Grant Program. Regulations, as necessary, have been promulgated to attain objectives of sustained yield management. The Pacific walrus constitutes a population of marine mammals which is presently the subject on continuing investigation and management by Alaskan biologists. The commercial value of walruses for ivory was responsible for their initial decline during the period 1860 through 1920, and prompted the close management attention presently devoted to them. State regulations pertaining to walrus include: 1) a walrus refuge in northern Bristol Bay; 2) a permit system regulating the purchase and sale of raw ivory; and 3) a trophy hunting bag limit of one adult bull per year. However, there are provisions permitting residents who depend upon walrus for food, to take up to five adult cows or sub-adults (either sex) each year. During the hunting season, Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel are stationed at the major walrus hunting sites to enforce the regulations and conduct ongoing research programs. This effort requires five department employees for the entire spring hunting season, as well as the full-time attention of two biologists. There are estimated to be 70,000 to 110,000 Pacific walruses at this time and the population is continuing to increase. The State of Alaska manages polar bears, recognizing that they are a renewable resource, capable of sustaining an annual harvest without jeopardizing the welfare of the species. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is recommending that a more sophisticated management policy be adopted by the state with high quality recreational use (photography, hunting, observation) as its principle objective. Under this new policy, the use of aircraft in hunting polar bears will be prohibited and replaced by ground hunting, employing Eskimo guides. This would upgrade the quality of recreation furnished by hunting, and would be more acceptable to the general public. In addition, the number of bears taken would be reduced to a level where there would be no reason for concern about excessive harvests. Only skins from those bears taken without the aid of aircraft can now be sold. Under the new policy, sale of all skins would be prohibited. This would seem desirable if the economy of northern Alaskan coastal villages could then be bolstered by income received by Eskimos for guiding persons interested in photographing, hunting and observing bears. The program for harvest assessment, initiated shortly after statehood, and intensified in succeeding years, has provided detailed harvest data since 1961. An intensive mark and recovery program is providing information on movements and the discreteness of sub-populations of polar bears. State and federal biologists are also conducting studies on polar bear breeding biology and prductivity, denning, relationships of bears to sea ice and seal populations, incidence and levels of parasites, pesticides, and pollutantsin bears, and is radio-tracking these animals from aircraft (and hopefully satellites) to determine movements and obtain related information. Although it would be desirable for other organizations to study various aspects of polar bear life history, it would be most unfortunate if research projects now being conducted were terminated. Marine mammals offer unique opportunities for scientific research of great reward to man. In diving, seals and whales repeatedly suspend breathing more than ten times as long as man can tolerate. Their protection from asphyxia during diving is effected by restriction of circulation and reduced loss of oxygen to the muscles and body while the highly sensitive brain and heart remain well circulated and functional. Having seen the effectiveness of this conspicuous elective regulation of the circulation in diving seals we found that in man and other land animals a similar but limited, elective regulation of circulation during asphyxia permitted their brief tolerance of diving, accidental or pathological arrest of breathing. The conspicuous model in the divers of a mammalian defense against asphyxia allows time for examination of the common system for protection from asphyxia. Temporary suspension of breathing at birth is a necessary condition for human infants to enter life. Accident and disease interfere with normal breathing, and on many occasions in our lives, survival is determined by the effectiveness of this elective preservation of the human heart and brain. Hair seals and whales dwell in cold arctic and antartic waters that would drain more heat from their warm bodies than would be tolerable unless their means for conservation of hear were more effective than in man. The thick layer of blubber that surrounds the hair seals and whales is an insulator, but being invariable it cannot adjust to the changing amount of heat produced that may increase more than ten times from rest to activiy. Nor can the insulation of blubber be reduced when a seal emerges from water into warm air. The requisite changes of insulation are accomplished by increasing or decreasing the flow of heat through the circulation through the blubber to the skin. Even the surface of man is cooler than his even warm blooded interior, and the variation in superficial temperatures adjusts to the internal production of heat and to the changing temperatures of his surroundings. The essential scheme of regulation of bodily warmth by changing temperature of the surface is the same in all warm blooded animals. Man is, however, so limited in tolerance of cold, that his means for regulation of warmth are obscured by their smallness and the extreme discomfort caused by even moderate cold. For northern aquatic mammals endurance of extremely cold surfaces is a natural way of life that they accept with equanamity. Accordingly, they provide a model on a magnificent scale of the methods for our defense from cold. In their protection from asphyxia and defense from cold the hair seals and whales provide the most conspicuous illustrations of the intricate regulatory systems that make life and health possible for all warm blooded animals. Not only do studies of marine mammals provide examples that help us in understanding essential processes in human life, but they add to our understanding of life in the sea. Expanding popular interest for marine mammals is based upon their remarkable inclination as captives to collaborate with man, as if man and animal genuinely appreciated the association. Through the various populations of marine mammals man can come to understand their nature and derive intellectual and esthetic satisfaction that will justify and help to preserve these mammals. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make the following points. First, it is our opinion that Section 109 be rewritten to more forcefully set forth the terms of Secretary of the Interior-if authority for overall management is in fact to be vested in the federal government and within the Department of the Interior-State relationships. To most of us this section is too vague and open ended. Second, we wonder if some of the commerce functions of the Department of Commerce are being abridged by authorities to be vested in Interior. Also, the Congress only recently established the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The intent of deliberations in this Committee since S.944 was passed in the 89th Congress has been to establish a strong national ocean agency. Isn't this a step in the other direction? Third, it is our considered opinion that a Marine Mammal Commission is unnecessary and duplicative of already functioning committees within the National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation and interagency groups. While many scientists and existing federal and state agencies seek more funds for marine mammal investigations do we need a super costly overhead or can we use existing avenues more effectively to directly accomplish the job before us? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. BRIEFING PAPER ON THE UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA SEA GRANT PROGRAM The Alaska Sea Grant Program is authorized pursuant to the National Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-688). It parallels in federal intent development of national marine resources in the same way the Morrill Act of 1862 emphasized western land development in the United States by establishing the Land Grant Program. The Sea Grant Program is designed to help develop the skilled manpower, facilities and equipment needed to accelerate the development of national marine and coastal resources. Monetary support is given by the federal government through the National Sea Grant office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce. Grants by NOAA to Universities and other institutions are on a 2 to 1 dollar matching basis. Our current federal-state appropriation is $400,000 in Sea Grant, and $212,274 in state appropriations and carry-overs. Other small contributions to the program come from industry and private sector grants and contracts. The Alaska Sea Grant Program has three program elements: 1. Support of Academic Education and Training in Marine Affairs Pursuant to this element Sea Grant currently supports 18 man-months of professional salary: 6 man-months for 2 fisheries professors within the College of Biological Sciences and Renewable Resources, 6 man-months for 1 coastal engineering professor within the College of Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering, and 6 man-months for 1 geology professor within the College of Earth Sciences and Mineral Industry. Also, two staff members of the Anchorage Coastal Resource and Science Center each teach a course on a non-reimbursable basis in addition to their regular duties. Current support of academic teaching totals $57,164. 2. The Conduct of Marine and Coastal Resource and Science Services This element of the Sea Grant Program embraces three activities: a. The operation of the Anchorage Coastal Resource and Science Service Center. Primary emphasis of the interdisciplinary resource and science group at this activity is to provide information on Alaskan coastal resources and environments to government agencies, industry, native organizations and private interests for their use in planning and making management decisions. (The Center itself is not engaged in either planning or management.) Additionally, the Center staff assists in the delivery of University-wide scientific research talents to investigate and develop new environmental information and data of relevance to priority marine and coastal development situations of the State. b. The Marine Advisory Services program is partially supported by Sea Grant funds and partially by regular state appropriations for Public Service in the fisheries extension field. Here, Sea Grant emphasis is to expand public services available on fisheries related matters. c. The University of Alaska Museum is supported by Sea Grant in order that it may expand its marine natural history collection and prepare public exhibits for the dissemination of marine resource and scientific knowledge. Current funding of these service functions totals $157,340. 3. Support of Research and Development The objective of the Alaska Sea Grant Program in research and development is to encourage and support these activities which contribute to the acquisition of knowledge necessary to further the priority development and utilization of Alaska marine and costal resources without environmental conflict. Current support of research and development projects totals $385,892 to the following projects and institutes: Prediction of Mt. St. Augustine Volcano Eruptive Activities-Geophysical Institute.... Macrophyte Investigations-Prince William Sound-Institute of Ma- Hydroclimatology of Alaska Coastal Zone-Institute of Water Resources- sources_ Applied Ecology of Arctic Waters-Institute of Marine Science--- $20, 584 27, 855 4, 246 4, 246 144, 508 77, 427 76, 138 44, 888 385, 892 Currently the National Sea Grant office is processing a supplementary grant of $50,000 for Institute of Marine Science research in Prince William Sound and development of coastal zoning information. Contemplated is a $300,000 federal grant extension for six months from May 1 to October 31, 1972. After this date, the Sea Grant year will be November 1, 1972 to October 31, 1973. A proposal in the order of $800,000 is expected to receive favorable national consideration. SEA GRANT IN ALASKA (J. J. Burns 1) Challenges of winter and early spring work in the frozen north will be faced next month when Sea Grant scientists from the University of Alaska set out for ice covered regions of the eastern Bering Sea. Their mission is to conduct field investigations and obtain specimens for five ongoing projects in marine mammal management. Since 1970 Sea Grant researchers at the university's Institute of Arctic Biology have been working in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to investigate marine mammal populations. Current projects include investigations of: Bering Sea harbor seals and their relationships to other ice-inhabiting pinnipeds (fin-footed animals) Factors affecting human utilization of marine mammal resources. 1 Sea Grantee, University of Alaska, Institute of Arctic Biology, College, Alaska 99701. Adaptations of marine mammals to live in the northern seas. Biochemical analysis of marine mammal species and populations. A survey of important northern marine organisms for the presence of pesticides and heavy metals. Research is conducted aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Glacier. A GREAT MISTAKE Currently, the Sea Grant researchers feel it would be a great mistake to bow to the increasing pressures of preservationists who call for mediocrity in marine mammal management in order to eliminate utilization of these animals by man. Optimum utilization requires high populations of animals, manipulated in such a manner as to provide maximum production. This is especially true in regions such as northwest Alaska where the resource base is limited and harvesting of marine mammal resources is a necessity for life. In Alaska, conservation agencies of both the state and federal governments have been involved in marine mammal investigations for many years. However, the manpower and funds available for this job have imposed severe limitations on the type and extent of investigations. Sea Grant funding is helping to fill this gap. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE Marine mammals are important in the contemporary subsistence, economy of western Alaska because they provide the basic raw materials for home industry and sale of a wide variety of items, ranging from cold weather foot gear to carved ivory, from oil to industrial buffers. These renewable resources, important in both the traditional and rapidly changing, cash-oriented contemporary society, will continue to be utilized by Alaska Coastal Eskimos. Marine mammals consequently play a key role in the settlement and support of Eskimos along the coasts of the Bering and Chukchi Seas. For centuries, whales and seals have provided meat, skins, oil, ivory and many other products essential to the well-being of a succession of Eskimo cultures. BASIS FOR SOCIETIES More than 20 species of marine mammals occur in the Bering Sea during some part of the year and at least half live in association with sea ice. Important for human utilization are the large baleen whale; the bowhead and small-toothed whale; the beluga; several pinnipeds such as the Pacific walrus, the northern fur seal, the Steller sea lion, the bearded seal, the ribbon seal, the ringed seal, the ice inhabiting harbor seal and a large predator, the Polar bear. Drastic reduction in populations of several species-essentially all commercially valuable species such as the sea otter, fur seal, walrus and bowhead whale occurred during the nineteenth century. This was the major factor contributing to collapse of several Eskimo settlements in the northern Bering Sea region. However, the Sea Grant team has learned that during the last 30 years a dramatic increase in populations of most of these species has occurred. Present numbers and trends of formally declared endangered species are bright spots from the standpoint of wildlife management. Senator HOLLINGS. Mr. Stepetin, we would be glad to hear from you, sir. STATEMENT OF GABRIEL STEPETIN, PRESIDENT, CITY COUNCIL, ST. PAUL ISLAND; ACCOMPANIED BY DAVID BOORKMAN Mr. STEPETIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have Mr. David Boorkman with me. I wish the chair would recognize him. Senator STEVENS. You want Mr. Boorkman to go first? Mr. STEPETIN. After I make my statement. Senator STEVENS. OK. |