have direct and indirect effects on whales, seals, krill, and 

 other components of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. The An- 

 tarctic Treaty Consultative Parties have recognized this pos- 

 sibility and, at the 11th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting 

 (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 23 June - 7 July 1981) , agreed that 

 a regime should be elaborated to provide means for: (1) assess- 

 ing the possible impact of mineral resource activities on the 

 Antarctic environment in order to provide for informed 

 decision-making; (2) determining the acceptability of possible 

 mineral resource activity; and (3) governing those activities 

 determined to be acceptable. 



Negotiation of the regime began in New Zealand in June 

 1982 as the first session of the 4th Special Antarctic Treaty 

 Consultative Meeting. The negotiations continued at formal 

 and informal sessions in New Zealand (January 1983) , the Federal 

 Republic of Germany (July 1983) , Washington, D.C. (January 

 1984), Japan (May 1984), Brazil (February 1985), France (Septem- 

 ber 1985) , Australia (April 1986) , Japan (October/November 

 1986) , and Uruguay (May 1987) . The next round of negotiations 

 will be held in New Zealand in January 1988. If these are 

 successful, it is expected that a meeting to conclude the 

 regime will be held in New Zealand in May 1988. 



The Marine Mammal Commission believes that an effective 

 regime for regulating and monitoring possible mineral resource 

 activities in the Antarctic offers great potential for ensuring 

 that any such activities are not to the disadvantage of whales, 

 seals, and other components of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. 

 The Commission, therefore, has provided and will continue to 

 provide advice and assistance to the Department of State to 

 insure, insofar as possible, that the regime is ecologically 

 sound and provides adequate and effective means for protecting 

 marine mammals and their habitat in the Southern Ocean. 



The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) 



The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research was estab- 

 lished in 1958 to foster international cooperation on scientific 

 research programs in the Antarctic. It is one of the Scientific 

 Committees under the International Council of Scientific Unions, 

 a body to which the National Academy of Sciences is the U.S. 

 adhering organization. The Academy's Polar Research Board 

 functions as the U.S. National Committee for SCAR. SCAR serves 

 as an unofficial scientific advisory body to the Antarctic 

 Treaty Consultative Parties, who have increasingly called 

 upon it for scientific and technical advice concerning conser- 

 vation and other issues. As noted earlier, for example, the 

 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties have, since 1983, 

 requested that SCAR provide advice on: procedures to evaluate 

 the possible environmental impacts of scientific research 

 programs and related logistic support activities in the Ant- 



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