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CHAPTER III 



INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION 



AND CONSERVATION 



Section 108 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act directs 

 that the Departments of Commerce, the Interior, and State, in 

 consultation with the Commission, seek to further the 

 protection and conservation of marine mammals under existing 

 international agreements and take such initiatives as may be 

 necessary to negotiate additional agreements required to 

 achieve the purposes of the Act. 



In addition, Section 202 of the Marine Mammal Protection 

 Act directs that the Marine Mammal Commission recommend to 

 the Secretary of State, and other Federal officials, appropriate 

 policies regarding existing international arrangements for 

 the protection and conservation of marine mammals. 



The Commission's activities in 198 3 with respect to 

 conservation and protection of marine mammals in the Southern 

 Ocean, the International Whaling Commission, the Interim 

 Convention on Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals, and 

 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 

 of Wild Fauna and Flora are discussed below. 



Conservation and Protection of Marine Mammals 

 in the Southern Ocean 



At least thirteen species of seals and whales, several 

 of which are or were in danger of extinction as a consequence 

 of unregulated or poorly regulated exploitation, inhabit or 

 migrate through the Southern Ocean, the seas surrounding 

 Antarctica. Commercial sealing has ceased and, as is discussed 

 in the following section on the International Whaling Commission, 

 a moratorium on commercial whaling is scheduled to begin in 

 1986. Consequently, commercial exploitation no longer poses 

 as serious a threat as it once did to the continued existence 

 and well-being of these species. Developing fisheries, 

 however, particularly the fishery for Antarctic krill ( Euphausia 

 superba) , and growing interest in possible offshore oil and 

 gas resources, could pose new and perhaps more serious 

 threats to marine mammals and other biota of the Southern Ocean. 



