Marine Species
/ Post by Katie Billing of Polar Bears International
I was happily sitting in my Wildlife Administration and Policy course when we started to learn about the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), describes the act as protecting all marine mammals including polar bears. I began to wonder why polar bears were considered a marine species and how the Marine Mammal Protection Act has benefited the future of polar bears.
When I think of Marine Species, dolphins and whales are the first creatures that come to mind. The NOAA defines marine species as mammals that breathe air through lungs, give live birth, are warm-blooded, and produce milk to nurse offspring. The NOAA continues to describe the species as having unique adaptations that help them thrive in the marine environment, within the water or near the water’s edge. Cetaceans, Pinnipeds, Sirenians, and Marine Fissipeds make up the four classifications of marine mammals. Cetaceans spend their whole lives in water. Cetaceans are better known as whales, dolphins and porpoises. Pinnipeds are carnivores that have flippers to help them maneuver in and out of water (in fact pinna means fin and ped means foot in Latin). Common pinnipeds include seals, sea lions, and walruses. Sirenians include the manatees and dugongs, which once were thought to have been Mermaids. The Marine Fissipeds is the category to which polar bears and sea otters belong.
Marine Fissispeds are considered marine mammals even though they spend the majority of life on land. The reason polar bears and sea otters are marine mammals is because they spend large amounts of time hunting for food in/near water. Polar bears rely on ringed seas (a pinniped species) and sea otters rely on mussels, clams, sea urchins, and crustaceans.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 protects over 60 marine mammal species including the polar bear. The MMPA helps protect species from human impacts that include, but are not limited to; poaching, pollution, harassment, habitat destruction, and ship strikes. The Act also prohibits the “take” of marine species. This means it is illegal in the United States to take a species listed in the MMPA and transport/ import them or their products. For example, a U.S Citizen cannot find a dead narwhal and take its tusk to decorate their living room. Another example is purchasing a seal fur jacket in Canada and transporting it back to the United States. The situation would be considered illegal under MMPA even if the seal fur jacket were made legally in Canada.
