of the General Assembly; and (5) included the "Question of 

 Antarctica" in the provisional agenda for the Forty-second 

 Session of the General Assembly. Again, the great majority 

 of the Consultative Parties (all but China, which abstained) 

 did not participate in the votes on these two resolutions 

 relating to Antarctica. A number of Consultative Parties 

 did, however, participate in the vote on the resolution 

 regarding South Africa. 



The Marine Mammal Commission believes that the Antarctic 

 Treaty and the related agreements that form the Antarctic 

 Treaty system provide an essential basis for effectively 

 protecting and conserving marine mammals and their habitat in 

 the Southern Ocean. In 1987, the Commission will continue 

 its efforts to strengthen and facilitate effective 

 implementation of the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention for 

 the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, the Convention on the 

 Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and the 

 minerals regime currently being negotiated. 



The International Whaling Commission 



Representatives of the Marine Mammal Commission con- 

 sulted with the U.S. Commissioner to the International 

 Whaling Commission (IWC) and others in preparation for the 

 Thirty-eighth Annual Meeting of the IWC in Malmo, Sweden. 

 Commission representatives also attended meetings of the IWC 

 and its Scientific Committee during 1986. A summary of the 

 Marine Mammal Commission's activities and related U.S. 

 activities during 1986 follows. 



Pre-Meetinq Activities 



As noted in the previous Annual Report, John V. Byrne, 

 Ph.D., submitted his resignation as U.S. Commissioner to the 

 IWC late in 1985. Early in 1986, Anthony J. Calio, Ph.D., 

 was appointed as the new U.S. Commissioner. Dr. Calio 's 

 appointment coincided with the onset of a moratorium on 

 commercial whaling, which had been adopted by the IWC at its 

 1982 meeting and which took full effect in 1986 (see previous 

 Annual Reports and discussion below) . In light of these 

 transitions within both the IWC and U.S. leadership in IWC 

 matters, late in 1985, the Marine Mammal Commission undertook 

 a review of IWC issues to provide guidance with respect to 

 future U.S. policy directions and activities. The results of 

 this review, completed early in 1986, were reflected in a 

 letter sent to the new IWC Comipissioner on 15 January 1986. 

 Major issues before the IWC were considered carefully and 

 recommendations for U.S. action during 1986 and beyond were 

 made. In particular, the Commission recommended that: 



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