Join Defenders in celebrating 50 years of conservation success through the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) .We look forward to another 50 years of using this critically important law to protect our marine mammals in the United States and around the world. We hope you’ll join the celebration! Learn more: https://dfnd.us/mmpa.
Video Transcript:
So if we’ve learned anything from the last 50 years of marine mammal science and conservation, it’s that we need to intervene to stop population declines before it’s too late.
Hi, I’m Jane Davenport. I’m a senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. For the last nine years, I’ve worked at Defenders through the courts, through legal advocacy, and in the halls of Congress to advocate and protect species like the Polar Bear, the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, and marine mammal species from coast to coast.
Some of the most exciting experiences of my life have been the opportunities to get out on whale watching boats and actually view species like the majestic and yet critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
There are only 340 surviving North Atlantic Right Whales, which is why it’s so important that we have strong laws like the MMPA to give the right whale and other marine mammals a fighting chance to survive and recover.
For decades, Defenders has advocated under the MMPA through the courts and through legal advocacy directed at NOAA Fisheries and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.
But Defenders has also fought to protect the MMPA from industry interests that would like to weaken it to make activities like offshore oil and gas development easier.
So we look forward to another 50 years of using this really important law to protect our marine mammals in the United States and around the world.
One of the most important things that Defenders members and members of the public can do is to let their representatives in Congress know how important a statute like the Marine Mammal Protection Act is.
We have to focus on how do we help marine mammals become resilient to climate change and all the impacts that that’s bringing to marine ecosystems?
We have to focus on 21st century technological solutions to age-old problems, such as vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglements.
So with the right investment of resources from Congress, we can enable humans and marine mammals to coexist in thriving healthy ocean ecosystems.
