Abstract

When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was amended in 1994 a provision was added to establish a task force to investigate and make recommendations for action against seals and seal lions that prey on threatened or endangered stocks of salmonid species. The first task force dealt with a group of sea lions collectively referred to as "Hershel" that routinely preyed on depleted stocks of steelhead trout returning through the fish ladder at the Ballard Locks in Washington. For almost a decade, the lethal removal of these sea lions (who now reside in various Sea World parks) has been the subject of much controversy. The next reauthorization of the A is scheduled to begin in 1998 with the goal of amending the Act by 1999.¹ The 1996 stock assessments indicate that pinniped populations on the west coast are increasing.² These debates and increases in the pinniped population foreshadow the difficult issues for this upcoming reauthorization.

For example, the Fishermen's Alliance of Monterey Bay has petitioned Congress to reinstate the commercial fishing exemption provisions that allow fishermen to use intentional lethal force to protect their gear and catch from damage by marine mammals, and to amend the MMPA to allow for a limited number of licenses to take (in this case kill) "six" pinnipeds per year at the discretion of the individual licensee.³ The Washington State Legislature tried unsuccessfully to enact legislation calling for lethal research on seals and sea lions. The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering changes to the MMPA to allow lethal removals of pinnipeds. Fishermen are still shooting marine mammals at alarming rates despite the current ban against shooting marine mammals which will surely be in jeopardy during the next reauthorization.

In the same vein, ecosystem management continues to be a buzz word that may encompass anything from habitat protection to reducing populations of pinnipeds viewed as competitors. The latter being a widely held point of view in Canada, where Canadian officials use the argument of seal predation on declining cod stocks as a rational for continuing the harp seal hunts.

From the other direction, marine mammals continue to evoke emotional responses from the public. The Free Willy Foundation has raised over ten million dollars to relocate, rehabilitate, and potentially release the star of the Free Willy movie back to the wild. For more than a decade animal rights and animal welfare advocates have fought for the return of captive marine mammals to the wild. Their efforts targeting mostly cetaceans--killer whales and dolphins. In 1996, efforts by animal welfare groups and advocates to return several former Navy dolphins to the wild resulted in a disastrous situation for the dolphins. Both of these situations call into question whether we should attempt to return captive animals to the wild. They also raise such questions as: Should we release captive born marine mammals? What is known about disease transmission to wild populations from animals that have been in captivity? What are our motivations for release? How will we track released animals? Who is qualified to train/condition marine mammals for release and how much experience in this effort do they need? Are there established sound protocols for such releases and when do we determine that a release is unsuccessful/successful?

What will be the fate of the anti-captivity movement? As history has shown will the public continue to support the single charismatic animal over efforts to conserve the population as a whole? It is unclear whether the policy direction that has been moving away from protecting each individual animal toward protecting populations and systems will prevail, or whether the idea that marine mammals are "sacred" will re-emerge. For example, the agency continues to encounter problems with public interactions with marine mammals. Increasing populations of both humans and marine mammals along the world's coasts have brought about not only competition for space on boats, docks and beaches, but has given rise to conflicts between a public which wants to feed and get close to these wild creatures, and wildlife management policy that argues against such interactions. Further complicating the picture are the complaints of property owners who suffer when marine mammals don't distinguish between taking robbing fish out of commercial gear and food from the hand of generous citizens. The same public that wants to protect individual animals doesn't want them sitting on their yachts and defecating.

Should we rehabilitate and release pinnipeds knowing that their populations are already increasing? Should we entertain the notion of managing some stocks of marine mammals? What are the human values that inform our policies with regard to marine mammals and fish? Where are the tradeoffs between our needs for food, economic development, and growth and our desire for abundant wildlife and clean oceans? How do we communicate those values among stakeholders and between interested parties so that they are at least understood, if not shared? How do we find a middle ground without unraveling twenty five years of efforts and progress toward protecting and conserving marine mammals.

A panel of scientists and veterinarians with first-hand experience in these topics will debate these and other questions with the active participation of the audience.

References

1.  1995 Marine Mammal Stock Assessments (U.S. Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico). 1995. NOAA Tech. Memor. National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD.

2.  Petition from the Fishermen's Alliance of Monterey Bay to Senator Larry Pressler, Chairman. 1995. NOAA Tech. Memor. National Marine Fisheries Service, Silver Spring, MD.

3.  Petition from the Fishermen's Alliance of Monterey Bay to Senator Larry Pressler, Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, September 5, 1995.

4.  Seal and Sea Lion Killing Legislation Dies in Washington State Legislature, wire story, obtained from Marine Mammal Research and Discussion, March 13, 1996.

5.  Proceedings of Annual Meeting, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, September 29, 1996, Sun River, OR (in press).