to be held in May 1987, was held in Washington, D.C., on 22-23 

 September 1987. 



The National Marine Fisheries Service convened a meeting 

 of State, Federal, Native, and public interest group represen- 

 tatives on 7 May 1987 to discuss what it hoped to accomplish 

 at the meeting. Commission representatives attended the 

 meeting and, on 22 May 1987, the Commission wrote to the 

 Service, expressing its support for the proposed meeting even 

 if only one or two of the other former parties to the Interim 

 Convention agreed to participate. In its letter, the Commission 

 noted that a conservation plan, as described earlier, would 

 provide a structured, rational context within which to discuss 

 cooperative international efforts to address fur seal conser- 

 vation and management issues. It therefore recommended that 

 a draft conservation plan be developed and distributed to all 

 appropriate governmental and non-governmental groups for review 

 and that it be used in developing U.S. positions for the 

 forthcoming multilateral meetings. The Commission also pointed 

 out that any international fur seal agreement involving the 

 United States must be consistent with the purposes, policies, 

 and requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. 



Several of the former Convention parties did not accept 

 the U.S. invitation to meet in May 1987. However, all parties 

 did accept a subsequent invitation to meet on 22-23 September. 

 To facilitate preparations for the meeting, the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service prepared and, by letter of 19 August 

 1987, sent the Commission a draft discussion paper outlining 

 proposed U.S. positions on issues expected to be addressed at 

 the meeting. The discussion paper subsequently was revised 

 to take account of comments provided by the Commission and 

 others and was provided to the representatives of the other 

 parties during the September meeting. 



The purposes of the September meeting were to re-establish 

 the international dialogue on fur seal issues, explain why 

 the United States did not ratify the 1984 protocol to extend 

 the Interim Convention, and explore the possibility of a new 

 agreement. During the meeting, the need for cooperative 

 efforts to conserve North Pacific fur seals was generally 

 recognized. However, there were differing views as to the 

 need for a new agreement, what should be included in it, and 

 what form it might take. The Canadian delegation indicated 

 that Canada could support a new agreement if its provisions 

 were substantially equivalent to those of the Interim Conven- 

 tion, including provision for a commercial harvest. The 

 delegation noted that, if the primary objective was to coor- 

 dinate fur seal research, a formal agreement may be unnecessary. 

 The Canadian delegation questioned the quality of the data that 

 had been used by the United States to conclude that the Pribilof 

 Islands fur seal population was depleted under the Marine 



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