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Commission joined the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC and 

 representatives of other Federal agencies in frequent 

 bilateral discussions of the whaling issue with 

 representatives of Norway and Japan. 



The Commission will continue to consult and cooperate 

 with other agencies and interested groups and individuals 

 during 1984 concerning these and other issues relating to 

 the International Whaling Commission. 



Interim Convention on Conservation 

 of North Pacific Fur Seals 



The Interim Convention on Conservation of North Pacific 

 Fur Seals calls for cooperative research and management 

 efforts by Japan, Canada, the United States, and the U.S.S.R. 

 to achieve the maximum sustainable productivity of the fur 

 seal populations of the North Pacific Ocean. The Convention 

 entered into force in 1957 and has been extended by a 

 succession of four Protocols. The most recent extension 

 was agreed to by the Parties on 14 October 1980 and was 

 ratified by the Senate on 11 June 1981. It is scheduled to 

 expire in October 1984. 



The objective of the Convention is to establish a 

 cooperative international management system for North Pacific 

 fur seal populations. Harvesting of fur seals at sea is 

 prohibited by agreement of the Parties to the Convention 

 in lieu of a land harvest carried out by the United States 

 on the Pribilof Islands and by the U.S.S.R. on Commander 

 and Robben Islands. For the past ten years, the U.S. 

 harvest has averaged about 26,700 male fur seals annually. 

 The Soviet harvest is currently about 7,700 seals a year. 

 The present world population of North Pacific fur seals is 

 about 1.2 million animals. 



During recent years, the North Pacific fur seal has 

 experienced a population decline of 5 to 8 percent per year. 

 While the causes of this decline are not clear, there is 

 evidence indicating that a contributing factor is mortality 

 resulting from entanglement in lost or discarded fishing gear 

 and other debris. The possible effects of such entanglement 

 on northern fur seals as well as other marine mammal species 

 are discussed in detail in Chapter IV of this report. 



On 18 February 1983, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service sent to the Commission and others the draft U.S. 

 position papers and related documents for the annual 

 meeting of the North Pacific Fur Seal Commission, to be held 



