provide advice on the comparability and accessibility of Ant- 

 arctic scientific data to facilitate planning and management 

 of activities in Antarctica. Because of the complexity of 

 the task, SCAR will be unable to respond to the request until 

 after its meeting in September 1988. Recognizing the importance 

 of the task, the 14th Consultative Meeting called upon national 

 contact points to assist in gathering needed information. It 

 noted that two important beginning steps are to: (1) identify 

 the specific types of data likely to be most useful for 

 planning, managing, and evaluating activities in Antarctica, 

 and (2) develop a directory which lists where and in what 

 format such data exist and how they can be accessed. 



SCAR has constituted an ad hoc group on Environmental 

 Data Management to respond to the Consultative Parties 1 request 

 for advice on this matter. The chairman of this group has 

 requested that the Marine Mammal Commission and other U.S. 

 agencies assist in identifying and cataloging relevant data. 

 The Commission has provided the requested assistance and will 

 continue to do so in 1988. 



Safeguards for Scientific Drilling : In some areas of 

 Antarctica, drilling into the earth's crust could strike oil 

 or gas deposits and result in oil leaks that would damage the 

 Antarctic environment. In response to a National Science 

 Foundation initiative, the 14th Antarctic Treaty Consultative 

 Meeting adopted "Guidelines for Scientific Drilling in the 

 Antarctic Treaty Area." The Guidelines recommend that, before 

 conducting scientific drilling in areas where hydrocarbons 

 might be encountered, a geophysical survey of the proposed 

 drill site be conducted to identify potential hazards, the 

 survey data be provided to appropriate experts to evaluate 

 and determine how to avoid potential environmental impacts, 

 drilling be done off potential hydrocarbon-bearing structures 

 to reduce the possibility of encountering hydrocarbons, contin- 

 gency plans be developed to deal with any problems that may 

 develop during drilling, and drilling operations be contin- 

 uously monitored to detect and promptly respond to any problems 

 that might arise. 



If applied properly by the national operating agencies, 

 the guidelines should substantially eliminate the possibility 

 of environmental damage from scientific drilling. 



Activities Related to Antarctic Seals 



In 1964, a private Norwegian expedition conducted explora- 

 tory sealing in the western Atlantic section of the Southern 

 Ocean to determine whether crabeater seals could be profitably 

 exploited. At about the same time, Canadian scientists recom- 

 mended that the Canadian and Norwegian long-distance sealing 

 fleets be diverted to the Antarctic to reduce exploitation 



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