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PUBLIC LAW 92-522-OCT. 21, 1972
(B) affect the balance of marine ecosystems in a manner which is important to other animals and animal products which move in interstate commerce, and that the protection and conservation of marine mammals is therefore necessary to insure the continuing availability of those products which move in interstate commerce; and (6) marine mammals have proven themselves to be resources of great international significance, esthetic and recreational as well as economic, and it is the sense of the Congress that they should be protected and encouraged to develop to the greatest extent feasible commensurate with sound policies of resource management and that the primary objective of their management should be to maintain the health and stability of the marine ecosystem. Whenever consistent with this primary objective, it should be the ^oal to obtain an optimum sustainable population keeping in mmd the otpimum carrying capacity of the habitat. DEFINITIONS
83*81^*^283^^' 16 USC 668aa "°** •
[86 STAT.
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SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act— (1) The term "depletion" or "depleted" means any case in which the Secretary, after consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission and the Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals established under title II of this Act, determines that the number of individuals within a species or population stock— (A) has declined to a significant degree over a period of;7ears; (B) has otherwise declined and that if such decline continues, or is likely to resume, such species would be subject to the provisions of the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969; or (C) is below the optimum carrying capacity for the species or stock within its environment. (2) The terms "conservation" and "management" mean the collection and application of biological information for the purposes of increasing and maintaining the number of animals within species and populations of marine mammals at the optimum carrying capacity of their habitat. Such terms include the entire scope of activities that constitute a modern scientific resource program, including, but not limited to, research, census, law enforcement, and habitat acquisition and improvement. Also included within these terms, when and where appropriate, is the periodic or total protection of species or populations as well as regulated taking. (3) The term "district court of the United States" includes the District Court of Guam, District Court of the Virgin Islands, District Court of Puerto Rico, District Cour't of the Canal Zone, and, in the case of American Samoa and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the District Court of the United States for the District of Hawaii. (4) The term "humane" in the context of the taking of a marine mammal means that method of taking which involves the least possible degree of pain and suffering practicable to the mammal involved. (5) The term "marine mammal" means a n j mammal which (A) is morphologically adapted to the marine environment (including sea otters and members of the orders Sirenia, Pinnipedia and Cetacea), or (B) primarily inhabits the marine environment (such as the polar b e a r); and, for the purposes of this Act, includes any part of any such marine mammal, including its raw, dressed, or dyed fur or skin, (6) The term "marine mammal product" means any item of merchandise which consists, or is composed in whole or in part, of any marine mammal.
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