To ammend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) to provide for delisting recovered species and post-delisting ecosystem-based stewardship, ensuring an approach that is equitable for all species.
CAMMPA is focused on correcting an important omission – a clear flaw – in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). That flaw is the lack of provisions for delisting recovered species and subsequent monitoring to ensure their continued recovery. The Act currently protects marine mammals in perpetuity, regardless of their numbers and their impact on the broader ecosystem. To its credit, federal protection is the main reason why the gray seal population has recovered so strongly.
However, this permanent protection has led to the continued proliferation of the species with troublesome consequences. That recovery may have reached a tipping point that now threatens the safety of our inshore waters, the recovery of our declining fisheries, the balance of our marine ecosystem, and the economies of coastal communities that are tied to the safety and health of our inshore waters.
As things stand, the gray seal population will likely continue to grow and its attendant problems will only worsen. With delisting provisions, the onus will be put on the regulators to do a quantifiable assessment of this population and (if demonstrably recovered) explore future management approaches.
CAMMPA believes that it is time to address this issue. We are working to broaden public awareness and focus political attention on correcting the MMPA by adding common-sense delisting provisions. The delisting provisions contained in the Endangered Species Act provide a model and a precedent for such a delisting process.
However, this permanent protection has led to the continued proliferation of the species with troublesome consequences. That recovery may have reached a tipping point that now threatens the safety of our inshore waters, the recovery of our declining fisheries, the balance of our marine ecosystem, and the economies of coastal communities that are tied to the safety and health of our inshore waters.
As things stand, the gray seal population will likely continue to grow and its attendant problems will only worsen. With delisting provisions, the onus will be put on the regulators to do a quantifiable assessment of this population and (if demonstrably recovered) explore future management approaches.
CAMMPA believes that it is time to address this issue. We are working to broaden public awareness and focus political attention on correcting the MMPA by adding common-sense delisting provisions. The delisting provisions contained in the Endangered Species Act provide a model and a precedent for such a delisting process.