The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972:
The Right to Live Undisturbed
and Our Responsibility to Protect Marine Mammals
Prelude
Before the MMPA, several species were threatened by overexploitation with nearly no concerns for the health of marine mammal populations. Sea lions, sea otters and other marine mammals were hunted for their fur, oil, and meat along American coastlines. Many companies and hunters drove thriving populations of marine mammals towards extinction.
Dr. Ross Dog and Cat Food Co.
Dr. Ross's pet food featured seal meat as an ingredient. Though seals were protected in California, enforcement was limited. Additionally, there was almost no protection in Mexico. Starting in 1937, the company would send ships into Mexican waters, hunting down around 150 seals per day. The meat was processed in California, which violated state law.
The hunting of the endangered Northern Elephant Seal was a particular concern as this species was among the most threatened marine mammals at that time. All species, however, were being wiped out at an alarming rate.
[Image courtesy of Orange County History Roundup]
1937 news article from the LP Telegraph depicting the vessel used to capture sea lions
[Image courtesy of San Diego Natural History Museum]
Sea lion carcasses
[Image courtesy of San Diego National History Museum]
The Fur Trade
The fur trade decimated sea otter populations. While Native Americans had hunted otters sustainably for years, the fur trade era created unsustainable hunting practices. People in Europe and Asia valued the fur for its texture and warmth. The majority of this hunting occurred along the Pacific coastline. Estimates from the early 20th century suggest that there were fewer than two-thousand sea otters left worldwide.
"Aleutian Sea Otter Hunters, as depicted by Charles Melville Scammon in The Marine Mammals of the North-Western Coast of North America (1874)"
[Image courtesy of Charles Melville Scammon/National Maritime Historical Society]
"Men posing with sea otter skins in the Aleutian Islands, 1892."
[Image courtesy of National Maritime Historical Society]
"Lynx, otter [furs] on display at the Funsten Public Auction Fur Sale, St. Louis" in 1915
[Image courtesy of Funsten Bros. & Co. / Library of Congress]