native mechanisms for seeking international cooperation on 

 fur seal research. 



The Service's letter was not fully responsive to all of 

 the points that had been raised in its 29 November 1985 and 

 14 February 1986 letters and the Commission again wrote to 

 the Service on 12 March 1986. In its follow-up letter, the 

 Commission advised the Service that little would be accomp- 

 lished during the upcoming meeting unless the U.S. first 

 determined precisely what it thought necessary to include in 

 the proposed conservation plan. The Commission also noted 

 that its discussion draft outline addressed both research and 

 management needs, but the Service's response suggested 

 planning should be limited to research matters. Therefore, 

 the Commission restated its recommendation that the Service 

 and the Commission cooperatively convene a group of experts 

 before the Ottawa meeting to develop and agree on the scope 

 and desired results of the long-term planning effort which 

 the U.S. was apparently prepared to propose during the Ottawa 

 meeting. The Commission also recommended that the meeting of 

 experts be held in conjunction with the Service's scheduled 

 preparatory meeting. 



The Service's preparatory meeting was held on 19 March 

 1986 in Seattle, Washington. During the meeting, the Service 

 announced that Canada had withdrawn its offer to host the 

 meeting of parties because the U.S. had not ratified the 1984 

 Protocol and that, unless the Senate acted favorably on the 

 matter in the next few days, the meeting of parties would 

 probably be cancelled. The working group to develop a fur 

 seal conservation plan was not constituted or convened in 

 conjunction with the preparatory meeting, as had been 

 recommended by the Commission. However, during the meeting. 

 Service representatives described research plans for 1986 and 

 noted that a draft paper on long-term fur seal research needs 

 had been prepared. The draft paper did not identify research 

 priorities or management needs. However, it was noted that 

 sections on these topics were to be developed subsequently as 

 a first step toward developing the conservation plan recom- 

 mended by the Commission. 



The meeting of parties in Ottawa was cancelled and, by 

 the end of 1986, the Senate had taken no final action with 

 respect to the Convention. Although the Service considered 

 plans for an alternative meeting of party governments in 

 1986, no meeting was held that year. Late in 1986, arrange- 

 ments were being made to hold a meeting of fur seal scien- 

 tists from Canada, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. in 

 April 1987 to consider recent research activities. 



44 



