Amendments proposed to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) during a legislative hearing threaten the protections provided to marine mammals. Proposed changes include rolling back definitions of harm and requiring more rigorous proof for conservation actions. The MMPA has successfully ensured no marine mammal species has gone extinct in U.S. waters since its enactment in 1972, facilitating the recovery of species like humpback whales. The act was a response to severe historical declines in marine mammals due to industrial whaling, demonstrating significant conservation successes over the decades.
The amendments would roll back current definitions of harm or disturbance to marine mammals while also requiring impossibly high hurdles for conservation action.
Since its passing, not a single marine mammal species in U.S. waters has gone extinct, even as use of the ocean has increased.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972 with bipartisan support and was implemented following 150 years of industrial whaling.
The act has overseen astonishing recoveries of species such as humpback whales, estimated at 21,063 individuals, recovered from potentially only a few thousand in the 1970s.
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