Don Young: “This species is not at the end of its rope, contrary to those who proposed this amendment. Thirteen of the 19 polar bear…”

“This species is not at the end of its rope, contrary to those who proposed this amendment. Thirteen of the 19 polar bear populations are under the jurisdiction of Canada. Canada has one of the best management programs, using state-of-art scientific practices to manage these populations. While that should be enough, it's not the end of the oversight or management of polar bears in Canada. The United States Marine Mammal Protection Act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to review the status of polar bear populations in Canada. After conducting their review of the service-approved, stable and healthy populations, hunters can only import trophies from those approved populations. Supporters of the amendment like to refer to the 1994 amendments of the Marine Protection Act that allowed an importation of polar bear trophies as a loophole. It was the law. These statements are far from the truth. In fact, we worked on it with a Democrat-controlled Congress. We worked on it together to improve the species in Canada because Canada asked us to do so. In 1970, many marine mammal populations faced numerous threats. The Marine Protection Act was very effective in restoring many marine mammal populations to healthy or historic levels. Unfortunately, the act does not discriminate between healthy marine mammal populations and those still in need of rebuilding. Robust populations of marine mammals are treated like they are on the verge of extinction.”