Opinion ID: 348720
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Consistency with the MMPA

Text: The MMPA provides that 52 no marine mammal or marine mammal product may be imported into the United States unless the Secretary certifies that the program for taking marine mammals in the country of origin is consistent with the provisions and policies of this chapter.    65 53 The Secretary did so certify in the decision to waive the moratorium, 66 but appellants contend that the certification is invalid because the record does not support a finding that South Africa's sealing practices are consistent with the provisions and policies of the MMPA. 54 Our decision on this claim is dictated by our holdings on appellants' other claims. Even if we assume that South Africa killed no seals prior to August 1, 67 as dictated by the Government appellees' construction of the age and nursing provisions of the Act, the record shows that up to 50 percent of them were less than eight months old and many of them were still nursing. The Government used its mean birthdate and obligatory nursing constructs to legitimate these killings, but we have held that the Government interpretations do not comply with the Act. It is therefore clear that South Africa's sealing program is not consistent with the provisions of the MMPA, in that South Africa kills many animals which are nursing or less than eight months old at the time of taking. 55 Appellants offer as an additional ground for invalidating the certification the fact that the MMPA is based on a policy of optimum sustainable population (OSP) while South Africa's sealing program is based on a policy of maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Both OSP and MSY are efforts to quantify how many animals can be taken each year without depleting the population. However, both are exceedingly difficult to apply with any precision. The MMPA sets as a goal to obtain an optimum sustainable population keeping in mind the optimum carrying capacity of the habitat. 68 But in our view the definitions of both OSP and optimum carrying capacity are singularly unenlightening; each is defined in terms of the other. 69 The Government, conceding that it has had trouble with the terms, has decided that OSP is not a fixed population level at all but a population range. 70 56 We are reluctant to jump into this fray. The Director found that the South African seal population is healthy and growing and that what South Africa is trying to achieve via MSY a healthy seal herd in a balanced ecosystem is consistent with what the MMPA seeks to achieve via OSP. Appellants disagree, saying that MSY inherently means harvesting more animals than OSP. But appellants admit that they too do not really know what either term means, 71 and they do not deny that the seal herds are growing under South African management. On the basis of this cloudy record, we cannot conclude that MSY is definitely inconsistent with OSP. We do not foreclose the question for the future, however, when experience and sharper definitions might require a different conclusion.