the more likely it is that 50 States will go their own way creating a certain amount of chaos in the trade. Both from the trader's standpoint and from the standpoint of enforcement regulation, it would be better to have us operating under a strong Federal bill.

Mr. Chairman, we congratulate you and Members of this committee for taking this as far as it has gone. Your staff has worked very hard on it. We know there is a way to go in the course of the coming weeks. We encourage you to continue working toward just compromise but to always keep in mind the importance of this to conservation.

What we are really talking about is not the viability of traders but the viability of birds. Eleven percent of the species are endangered in the world, one-third are in serious decline. That is our constituency and I ask you to protect them.

Mr. STUDDS. Thank you. I want to commend you and the people for whom you speak for focusing, as you always do, us on questions of real importance, real concern, and real consequence to all of us as critters on this earth. Also, if you have any information on the most important district in Massachusetts, I would like to speak to you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Bertrand can be found at the end of the hearing.]

Mr. STUDDS. Next, Mr. Meyers of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.

STATEMENT OF MARSHALL MEYERS

Mr. MEYERS. Mr. Chairman, my name is Marshall Meyers. I am general counsel of PIJAC, a national trade association representing all segments of the pet industry.

Exotic birds play an important role in our lives as companion pets. Pressures on wild avian populations and their habitat, as well as inadequate regulation in some exporting countries, require new approaches to enhance conservation and humane treatment of wild-caught birds.

Improved regulatory mechanisms here and abroad, incentives to increase captive breeding, and increased pet industry involvement in conservation management are all objectives of a responsible pet industry.

PIJAC supports Federal adoption of a rational, comprehensive Federal approach to improving regulatory mechanisms governing the international trade of wild-caught birds.

Utilization of sustainable, renewable wildlife resources requires improved and innovative legislation which not only provides incentives for species habitat conservation, but also establishes components of a management program which includes monitoring export/import controls, animal welfare standards, and local community benefits in a range state.

H.R. 5013 strives to achieve these objectives and, with the changes suggested in our testimony and in the testimony of others, we believe it can. We believe that a restructuring of the import/ export system is essential to assist the CITES implementation and provide better incentives for those nations in the underdeveloped world that desire to rationally utilize their wildlife resources.

This objective cannot be reached, however, unless we can design a system unencumbered by emotional rhetoric and disinformation. Objective criteria will hopefully produce objective data.

For H.R. 5013 to be effective, the listing criteria must be clear, reasonable, and attainable. The period to convert and the method for converting to any new system must be carefully analyzed to insure that one, it can be achieved within the time period prescribed and, two, underdeveloped nations desiring to continue to engage in sustainable use of wildlife resources have an opportunity to meet the criteria imposed by the United States.

Furthermore, H.R. 5013 must be amended to provide access to breeding stock and, most importantly, to insure restrictions are not imposed which are more stringent on captive-bred progeny than wild-caught birds and thus would make it more difficult to trade in captive-bred birds than wild-caught birds.

As a practical matter, implementation of the listing process will impose a substantial burden on the Secretary. The time involved to obtain data, consult with range States, comply with the public notice and comment procedures will be substantial. Therefore, we think the three-tiered approach raised this morning deserves exploration and refinement as a way of dealing with this issue and to benefit the Secretary's process.

Conceptually, PIJAC supports establishment of meaningful criteria for assessing the population and ensuring that the exporting country does, in fact, have in place a management program which monitors trade, evaluates population changes, includes humane capture and humane treatment pre-export, and provides incentives for conservation benefits to the local peoples.

At the same time, implementation of the criteria, as drafted, raises several serious practical problems which we have addressed in our written statement. The criteria must be re-evaluated and refined I believe to meet all our respective goals.

The proposed criteria assume an unlimited supply of qualified scientists ready, willing, and able to monitor and survey species, review data, and present reports. In the real world, however, the data required to meet these criteria may bear little relationship to the cost of obtaining that information or the capabilities of the Third World. Therefore we need flexibility, practicality, and pragmatism.

In conclusion, we support the concepts underlying H.R. 5013. It is a significant step forward in resolving a complex and emotional issue. Refinement is required for this Act to work. Refinement could establish a reasonable mechanism to ensure that conservation management and international trade can work together in harmony. We encourage the committee to continue the process it has launched by having us all work together.

On behalf of the pet industry, I thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony. We look forward to working with you and your staff on this very important matter.

Mr. STUDDS. Thank you, sir.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Meyers can be found at the end of the hearing.]

Mr. STUDDS. Next, Mr. Jim Leape.

STATEMENT OF JIM LEAPE

Mr. LEAPE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My name is Jim Leape. I am testifying today on behalf of World Wildlife Fund. With one million members in the United States alone, WWF is the largest international organization working worldwide for the conservation of nature. We have worked in over 100 countries around the world to protect birds and their habitats. We have a long history of working for effective control of international trade in wildlife, both by strengthening CITES convention on international trade and by strengthening trade laws and law enforcement in countries around the world.

In recent years, we have focused our efforts on trying to build consensus on the issue of bird trade, recognizing that after 20 years of gridlock, we needed to bring together the interests to agree on basic reforms. It is in that spirit we convened, chaired, and staffed the Cooperative Working Group on Bird Trade (CWGBT), which included most of the major national groups represented here today, and which met over the course of three years to make recommendations on this subject.

The Working Group came out with recommendations a couple of years ago. Getting those recommendations into legislation has proved to be a tortuous process. We believe H.R. 5013 is the brightest hope yet for getting a comprehensive solution enacted.

In looking at this problem, we see two basic challenges. The first is to address the threat to wild populations posed by unsustainable trade. But there is a second challenge. For the longer term, we need to foster conservation of the habitats upon which these birds depend. In the end, the future of these birds lies in the hands of those who live with them.

One of the great virtues of this bill is that it recognizes that longterm need. We strongly support the bill. It reflects many of the recommendations of the Cooperative Working Group and, therefore, in those respects, I think can expect broad support. I want to briefly touch on a couple of provisions that we think could be improved to make the bill even more effective.

First is the question already addressed several times, the question of phasing out imports. As drafted, the bill calls for phasing out imports for the pet trade over four years. I think everybody here will agree some quicker phaseout or transition period should be possible.

I think it is important to note, if we are serious about shifting the trade to a more sustainable basis, some transition is necessary to allow development of the new clean list that will be the basis for that sustainable trade. I hope the approach outlined by the Chairman earlier in the hearing, which allows immediate action to protect species that are in trouble and a more measured transition period for other species can provide the basis for some consensus on this issue.

Our bottom line is that if we are serious about moving the trade to a sustainable basis we have to act like we are serious about it. We have to allow time to put that system in place and get it operational before we shutdown the trade.

The second issue is the clean list or approved list which this bill would establish. H.R. 5013 would establish an approved list of bird species. We believe that is important for the conservation of birds and their habitats. We would suggest several improvements. The first is that only species commonly produced in captivity, such as canaries or cockatiels should be automatically included on the clean list. All other species should be reviewed under rigorous criteria to ensure sustainability and regular monitoring to assure effective implementation and enforcement of those plans.

Finally, let me talk about a third issue-imports for breeding. We at WWF have long recognized, and the Cooperative Working Group affirmed, that captive breeding has a critical role to play in conservation. We believe that role is twofold: First is a role in helping restore depleted populations. The second is shifting the pet market to a more sustainable footing.

We believe expanded captive breeding can help bring down the price and reduce the demand for smuggled birds, especially those species that do not end up on the approved list for import. H.R. 5013 allows continued imports of wild birds for cooperative breeding programs where the Secretary finds such imports are not detrimental to the species. We urge the committee to make clear such imports will be allowed for public and private breeding operations sanctioned by the Secretary or recognized aviculture or zoological organizations.

With these improvements, WWF is convinced H.R. 5013 can be a major step forward in addressing the efforts of the bird trade. We commend the committee for its work on this issue and offer any help we can provide.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Leape can be found at the end of the hearing.]

Mr. STUDDS. Next, Dr. Steven Beissinger.

STATEMENT OF STEVEN BEISSINGER

Dr. BEISSINGER. Thank you. I am Steven Beissinger, a professor in the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. I have been conducting research on the ecology, conservation, and potential for sustainable harvesting of parrots in Venezuela for seven years.

Mr. STUDDS. Excuse me, the microphone.

Dr. BEISSINGER. I speak on behalf of the American Ornithologists' Union, an organization of professional scientists who study birds in the U.S. and around the world. Today, I also represent two other scientific societies of ornithologists in North America-the Association of Field Ornithologists and the Wilson Ornithological Society. The importation of wild birds threatens the existence of entire species. Principal problems have occurred with parrots and fully one-third of 140 species of parrots in Latin America are at risk of extinction. For over half of these, harvest for the trade has been cited as a major cause of endangerment.

Trade also affects other birds and many species cannot continue to sustain the present harvest levels, as evidenced by their disappearance from parts of the range where they once were common

and where good habitat still exists. Wildlife managers determine appropriate levels of sustainable yield before harvesting begins. Such information does not exist for even one species of bird currently being imported.

The importation of these birds poses two other problems. Imported birds carry diseases that can be transmitted to our native bird species and poultry because USDA regulations for quarantine are inadequate. Newcastle Disease caused large loss to poultry industry in 1972. Importation has also resulted in establishment of feral populations of birds in our country. Since many of these species are agriculture pests in their countries of origin, they are likely to cause problems to farms and orchards here. Sooner or later we can expect enormous economic losses to occur again.

Put simply, the numbers of exotic birds being imported in the United States are indefensible and importation of these birds must be stopped as soon as possible.

H.R. 5013 provides an excellent framework for regulating bird trade, and the American Ornithologists' Union strongly supports its passage if it can be amended properly. We believe the following amendments to be the most important although additional ones are supplied with our testimony.

First, permit the importation of exotic birds for captive breeding only for internationally and nationally sanctioned programs. Keeping birds in captivity has been construed by many aviculturists as "conservation." Captive breeding programs do not conserve wild birds unless they are fully integrated with preservation in the wild and reintroduction efforts. For captive breeding to have any conservation purpose, control of birds must be given up to a central authority.

Also, all cooperative captive breeding programs must be sanctioned by both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and appropriate agency in the country of origin.

Second, eliminate excluded families of birds from this legislation. There is no justification for excluding species from 10 families of birds. Nearly all have many species that are endangered or declining rapidly or not currently listed on CITES. It is inappropriate to exempt entire families from a bill whose goal it is to promote conservation of wild birds.

Third, we disagree with the automatic addition of non-CITES species to the approval of the clean list. CITES species and non-CITES species should be treated in the same sustainable manner.

Lastly, we suggest that the four-year phaseout period should be eliminated and that, as soon as possible, these species should be given a rest from trade or moratorium until the appropriate levels of trade can be decided. Now, if these amendments can be incorporated, we believe that H.R. 5013 would greatly decrease the importation of exotic birds into the U.S.

The Act would make trade sustainable by implementing the same "user pays" principle that regulates hunting. Just as hunters support the scientific determination of bag levels through their licenses, bird traders and buyers should support the studies to list the species for trade. The criteria for this list is biologically appropriate. The Act will also help aviculture to become self-sustaining.