CHAPTER V 



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 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 1987 with respect to conser- 

 vation and protection of marine mammals in the Southern Ocean, 

 the International Whaling Commission, the Convention on Inter- 

 national Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 

 and the Convention for the Protection and Development of the 

 Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region are discussed 

 below. 



Conservation and Protection of Marine Mammals 

 in the Southern Ocean 



At least thirteen species of seals and whales inhabit or 

 are present seasonally in the Southern Ocean, the seas sur- 

 rounding Antarctica. Two of the seal species, the Antarctic 

 fur seal and the southern elephant seal were driven to near- 

 extinction by unregulated hunting in the late 18th and early 

 19th centuries. Most of the populations of large whales, 

 including Antarctic populations of humpback, blue, fin, sei, 

 and sperm whales, have been severely depleted by poorly regu- 

 lated commercial whaling, which began in the Antarctic in the 

 early 1900s. 



In 1972, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties con- 

 cluded the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals 

 to regulate commercial sealing, should it ever begin again in 

 the Antarctic. In 1982, the International Whaling Commission 

 agreed to a moratorium on commercial whaling, which took effect 

 in 1986 (see the following section of this Chapter) . Thus, 

 commercial sealing and whaling presently do not pose threats 

 to Southern Ocean populations of seals and whales. However, 

 both commercial sealing and commercial whaling could be resumed 

 in the future. In addition, developing fisheries, particularly 



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