CHAPTER IV 



INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION 



AND CONSERVATION 



Section 108 of the Marine Manimal 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 may be 

 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 1986 with respect to 

 conservation and protection of marine mammals in the Southern 

 Ocean, the International Whaling Commission, the Interim 

 Convention on Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals, and 

 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 

 of Wild Fauna and Flora 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 ( Arctocephalus spp.) and the southern elephant seal 

 ( Mirounqa leonina) , were driven to near-extinction by unregu- 

 lated hunting in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. 

 Most of the large whale stocks, including humpback, blue, 

 fin, sei, and sperm whale stocks, have been severely depleted 

 by poorly regulated commercial whaling which began in the 

 Antarctic in the early 1900s. 



In 1972, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties 

 concluded an agreement, the Convention for the Conservation 

 of Antarctic Seals, to regulate commercial sealing, should it 

 ever begin again in the Antarctic. In 1982, the Interna- 

 tional Whaling Commission agreed to a moratorium on com- 



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