New Congressional proposal would end protections for America’s marine species

Washington, D.C. —

The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water Wildlife and Fisheries is scheduled today to consider an unpopular proposal to wipe out protections for dolphins, whales, manatees, and other marine mammals.

The committee will hold a hearing at 2:15 pm on unprecedented language that would eviscerate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, one of America’s most successful environmental laws.

In 1972, Congress responded to overwhelming public support for marine mammals by adopting the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Since then, the landmark law has protected the country’s dolphins, whales, manatees, seals, sea otters, polar bears, and other much-loved species from harm. Not a single species has disappeared from American waters even as our use of the ocean has increased. Protecting our nation’s marine mammals keeps our coasts and oceans productive and supports the largest wildlife-watching industry on the planet.

“Americans love marine creatures and want to protect them,” said Kristin Butler, Earthjustice Legislative Representative. “The Marine Mammal Protection Act has successfully protected marine wildlife for over 50 years. We would not have as many sea otters, or have been able to save the humpback whale, without this law. Why in the world would we stop protection now and put marine species back on a path to extinction?”

If enacted, this bill would downgrade the Marine Mammal Protection Act’s existing mandate to protect abundant, thriving populations, and, instead, would only require that species like whales merely exist. This would not only undermine the progress we’ve made in the past 50 years but would also jeopardize the recovery of many marine mammal species.

It would also weaken legal standards that protect and minimize harm from activities that kill and injure marine mammals. It would prohibit federal agencies from requiring mitigation for many of these activities. This is a dangerous handout to industries like oil and gas to expand harmful activities, like underwater seismic blasting, without protecting marine mammals.

It would force agencies to ignore the best available science by requiring them to instead meet artificial and unnecessary data collection standards before the agency could limit the number of animals that can be killed by human activities each year. And it imposes this manufactured standard at a time of radically decreasing federal agency staff and funding for conducting even the most basic surveys and science.

Overall, these changes, along with many more in the bill, would have devastating impacts to marine mammals across the country.

Dozens of groups signed a letter opposing the revision proposal. The Subcommittee hearing is today at 2:15 p.m. EST in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, and can be live streamed.