NMFS has an important public comment period open until Jan. 29th that greatly affects cetacean (and indirectly sea turtle) conservation: enforcement of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As you are aware, the Marine Mammal Protection Act requires any country wishing to import fish products into the United States to provide proof that the country¹s fishing practices do not harm or kill marine mammals in excess of U.S. standards. Recent information, obtained from a Freedom of Information Act request, has revealed that the U.S. government has ignored the mandatory duty of Section 101(a)(2) for decades. Section 101(a)(2) of the MMPA states, ³The Secretary of the Treasury shall ban the importation of commercial fish or products from fish which have been caught with commercial fishing technology which results in the incidental kill or incidental serious injury of ocean mammals in excess of United States standards.² NMFS is soliciting comments regarding how they should proceed with a petition requesting that the U.S. government immediately comply with MMPA Section 101(a)(2). See the Federal Register Notice here: <http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=999330266259 +0+2+0&WAISaction=retrieve>. The Center for Biological Diversity and Sea Turtle Restoration Project have requested NMFS immediately comply with the requirements of the MMPA and ban the imports of foreign swordfish until exporting countries can provide proof that their fishing practices are equally protective of marine mammals as methods used by U.S. fishermen. Please consider adding your organization to our sign-on letter: http://www.seaturtles.org/downloads/Swordfish_signon_letter.pdf Individuals, go to: http://www.seaturtles.org/article.php?id=1262 to tell the Secretary of Commerce to enforce Section 101(a)(2) of the MMPA and restrict imports from countries that don't comply with the law. Go to: http://www.seaturtles.org/downloads/Swordfish%20Import%20Petition.pdf to see a full copy of the petition to the Secretary of Commerce. Thank you, Mike Milne Leatherback Campaign Coordinator Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.seaturtles.org 415-663-8590 ext. 106 -- Mike Milne Leatherback Campaign Coordinator Sea Turtle Restoration Project www.seaturtles.org 415-663-8590, ext. 106 415-250-4006 (cell) ***new number*** Check our blog! http://blog.seaturtles.org