Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) is a key U.S. federal law enacted on October 21, 1972, aimed at safeguarding marine mammals and their habitats. This legislation prohibits the ownership and importation of marine mammals and their products, while allowing limited subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives and Native Americans for cultural and survival purposes. Over the years, the MMPA has contributed to the recovery of various marine mammal populations, including seals, sea otters, and whales, although discussions about its enforcement and impact persist among different stakeholder groups.
The act underwent significant amendments in 1994, which enhanced fishing regulations and clarified the management responsibilities between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Notably, these amendments aimed to reduce accidental marine mammal deaths in fishing activities and streamlined regulations for scientific research. Controversies surrounding the MMPA often arise from the differing views of fishing interests, environmentalists, and indigenous communities regarding its implications for marine life and cultural practices. As global industrialization and population growth continue, the pressures on marine ecosystems increase, prompting ongoing collaboration among various groups to ensure the MMPA's objectives are met.
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Subject Terms
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)
THE LAW: U.S. federal legislation intended to provide for safe environments for marine mammals
DATE: Enacted on October 21, 1972
The provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act contributed to improvements in the populations of various species, including seals, sea otters, and whales, but debates continue regarding the law’s enforcement and its effects.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) prohibits ownership or importation of any marine mammal or any products of marine mammals. However, it does allow a limited catch by Alaska Natives and Native Americans for purposes of material survival or for reasons related to cultural heritage. The act was amended in 1994 to restructure jurisdiction and enforcement of the provisions of the law and to establish guidelines for transportation of marine mammals. Controversies exist among fishing interests, environmentalists, and members of indigenous cultures as to the interpretation and effects of the MMPA.
When the MMPA became law in 1972, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which is part of the Department of the Interior, became responsible for manatees, dugongs, polar bears, walruses, and sea otters. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a division of the Department of Commerce, was assigned management of whales, dolphins, sea lions, fur seals, elephant seals, monk seals, true northern seals, and southern fur seals. The 1994 amendments stipulated stronger fishing regulations, especially the use of improved equipment to reduce the number of accidental killings of marine mammals and to exclude the bycatch of turtles, nontarget fish, and undersized fish of the targeted species.
Before the amendments, jurisdiction over care and transport of captive marine mammals was shared by the NMFS and the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The amendments eliminated the NMFS’s part of the administration and enforcement, which caused concern among many environmentalists because APHIS officials are not as experienced in working with marine mammals as are personnel of the NMFS. The Humane Society of the United States appealed for reinstatement of the NMFS as a joint authority, but APHIS was delegated sole authority. Zoos and aquariums supported APHIS control, as that agency made it easier for these institutions to capture and transport marine mammals. APHIS required only that public facilities that already owned any marine mammals send notification to APHIS after acquiring additional mammals, whereas previously the institutions had been required to obtain permits before acquiring such animals.
Other changes brought about by the amendments eased regulations on scientists and researchers, who no longer are required to obtain permits to conduct studies of marine mammals, unless their work has the potential to harm the animals. Many ecologists reacted positively to the 1994 amendments to the MMPA because the amendments emphasized the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems, particularly in the waters off the northwestern and northeastern coasts of the United States, where the seal and sea lion populations had been declining at an alarming rate.
The MMPA made illegal many of the human activities that threatened marine mammal populations in the past. Sea otters had been overhunted for their skins, but government protection has allowed their populations to recover around Prince William Sound and off the California coast. Whales are protected by the MMPA and by the ban on whaling instituted by the International Whaling Commission. However, the natural renewable resources on which whales feed may be endangered, as some countries are harvesting large quantities of krill, which is the mainstay of many whales’ diets and an important link in the marine food chain.
As human populations increase worldwide and become more industrialized, demands on the oceans as a food source and a place to chemicals also increase, as does noise from sonic testing and boat traffic. Continued publicity and pressure from environmental advocacy groups such as Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature have led wildlife managers, fishers, animal rights supporters, and scientists to work together under the terms of the MMPA as amended in 1994.
Bibliography
Curnutt, Jordan. Animals and the Law: A Sourcebook. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2001.
"Marine Mammal Protection Act." NOAA Fisheries, www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/laws-policies. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Ray, G. Carleton, and Jerry McCormick-Ray. Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2004.