NAOMI ROSE

Naomi Rose is the Marine Mammal Scientist for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation's largest animal protection organization. She oversees all marine mammal issues and programs at The HSUS, including protection of marine mammals in wild and captive situations. Dr. Rose has been instrumental in formulating HSUS policy opposing the capture and captivity of marine mammals for public display and has been a key player in the national debate on the issue.

She is the HSUS scientific representative to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee meetings and advises the HSUS campaign on the dolphin-safe tuna issue. She has directed HSUS efforts to police the enforcement and implementation of the 1994 amendments to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and is currently coordinating a coalition campaign to ensure maximum protection for all marine mammals during the MMPA's 2002 re-authorization. She directs or participates in campaigns focusing on the protection of walruses, polar bears, manatees, and sea otters, as well as seals, sea lions, whales and dolphins.

Dr. Rose has appeared on national and local television news and participated on numerous radio talk programs. She has been quoted in national magazines and has authored several articles for animal protection publications, as well as chapters in three books. She lectures annually at two universities and speaks at various conferences, workshops, meetings, and task forces at the international, national and state level.

Dr. Rose received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1992 and joined The HSUS staff in 1993.

ABSTRACT from the 2002 Conference program

BEDTIME STORES - THE MMPA RE-AUTHORIZATION AND OTHER GRIM FAIRY TALES... The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) was a landmark environmental law that set a moratorium on the "take" - defined as "harass, hunt, capture, or kill" - of marine mammals. Certain limited exceptions to this prohibition have been allowed; however, public oversight of these special cases was carefully written into the law. Every few years, the U.S. Congress must re-authorize, which in its most limited sense means refund, the statue. However, whenever the MMPA is re-authorized, it is usually amended, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The last re-authorization, in 1994, was a mixed bag of strengthening and weakening amendments; the next re-authorization was supposed to occur in 1999. It is obviously overdue (when re-authorization is delayed, the statue is usually funded year-to-year, at a reduced level). At long last, however, H.R. 4781, a bill to re-authorize the MMPA, was introduced in the House of Representatives in May 2002. Althought the initial amendments proposed in this bill were not overly controversial, efforts by industry and others to fundamentally alter the MMPA have been underway since the last Administration. Most notably, the U.S. military, specifically the Navy, has been seeking to weaken the definition of harassment - a key precautionary element of the law - which would have the effect of significantly reducing oversight for many of its activities. This presentation will describe some of the bill's amendments and the current status of the bill, the proposed harassment definition change, implications, and the ongoing efforts by environmental organizations to maintain the integrity and protective nature of the law.

In addition to speaking, Naomi was a panelist in the discussion on 'Captivity & Whale Watching: Scientific, Educational, and Ethical Considerations', and the moderator in the discussion on 'Career Opportunities in Cetacean Research & Conservation'.

We were also honored to have Naomi join us at the 2000 Conference in Monterey - Whales 2000, where she gave a brief overview of the reauthorization of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and moderated a discussion on the "Future of the MMPA and ESA".