Antarctic Research (see page 26) on seals taken for both 

 research and commercial purposes, and that both the 

 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and other 

 contracting parties be notified at least thirty days in 

 advance of departure of proposed sealing expeditions from 

 their home ports. 



Since the Convention was concluded in 1972, several 

 hundred seals have been killed each year for research 

 purposes. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research has 

 established a Group of Specialists on Seals to facilitate and 

 coordinate Antarctic seal research and this Group has been 

 charged with compiling and advising the Scientific Committee 

 on Antarctic Research on information submitted in response to 

 the aforementioned requirements of the Seals Convention. The 

 Soviet Union and Poland have not met the reporting require- 

 ments, and, at its meeting in San Diego in June 1986 

 (discussed below) , the Scientific Committee on Antarctic 

 Research urged all of its national committees to take steps 

 to insure that data on seals killed and captured in the 

 Antarctic are submitted in the appropriate form and in a 

 timely fashion to the convenor of the Group of Specialists on 

 Seals to enable the Scientific Committee on Antarctic 

 Research to meet its commitments under the Seals Convention. 



There has been no commercial hunting of seals in the 

 Antarctic since 1964 when a private Norwegian expedition 

 conducted exploratory sealing in the western Atlantic sector 

 of the Southern Ocean. In October 1986, the Soviet Union 

 advised the United States and other parties to the Seals 

 Convention that it was sending two sealing vessels to the 

 Antarctic on 10 November 1986, to conduct experimental 

 sealing. The Department of State, following consultation 

 with the Commission and the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, requested information on the purposes and expected 

 duration of the experimental sealing, the size and operating 

 characteristics of the two sealing vessels, the planned 

 operating area or areas, and the species and number of seals 

 expected to be taken. By the end of 198 6, no fvirther infor- 

 mation had been provided. 



Article VI of the Seals Convention provides that any 

 contracting party may propose a meeting of parties at any 

 time after commercial sealing has begun to consider con- 

 stituting a regulatory commission or taking other measures 

 which may be necessary to effectively meet the Convention 

 objectives. If subsequent information indicates that the 

 Soviet Union has begun commercial sealing, the Commission 

 will recommend that the Department of State propose a meeting 

 of contracting parties to consider and take necessary action. 



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