In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was passed by
the U.S. Congress to protect the many mammals who live in the
world's oceans. This legislation is the basis for policies
preventing the harassment, capture, injury, or killing of all
species of whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions, as well as
walruses, manatees, dugongs, sea otters, and polar bears.
The law sets up a management regime to reduce marine mammal
mortalities and injuries in their interactions with fisheries
(gear entanglement, etc.); regulates scientific research in the
wild; establishes basic requirements for public display of
captive marine mammals; addresses issues specific to the tuna
fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean where dolphins
associate with tuna and are harassed, injured, and sometimes
killed by fishing practices there; creates a management regime
for native subsistence hunting of marine mammals in Alaska; and
regulates the import and export of marine mammals and their
products.
The primary government agency responsible for enforcing the
MMPA is the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), found in
the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Under the MMPA, NMFS is responsible for the
management and conservation of whales and dolphins (cetaceans)
and pinnipeds other than the walrus. Walruses, manatees and
dugongs (sirenians), sea otters, and polar bears are under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in
the Department of the Interior.
The MMPA underwent some significant changes in its 1994
amendments, especially with respect to switching the emphasis
for pinnipeds from protection to management. NMFS has proposed
even greater changes for the next reauthorization.
