The Convention also established the North Pacific Fur 

 Seal Commission composed of a representative from each party 

 government. Between 1958 and 198 6, the Commission met 

 annually to coordinate and review the results of cooperative 

 research programs and to develop recommendations to party 

 governments on appropriate research and management measures. 

 As discussed below, however, the Fur Seal Commission did not 

 meet in 1986 and it seems unlikely that fur seals will 

 continue to be managed under the Interim Convention as it 

 currently exists. 



After the Interim Convention entered into force in 1957, 

 it was extended by a succession of Protocols, the most recent 

 of which was signed by the four parties on 12 October 1984 

 and called for extending the Convention through October 1988. 

 By early 1985, all of the nations which had signed the 

 Protocol had not yet submitted their instruments of ratifica- 

 tion. However, in hopes that favorable action by all party 

 governments would be forthcoming, the Fur Seal Commission met 

 in April 1985 in Tokyo, Japan, to consider cooperative 

 research and management recommendations for the 1985 field 

 season. On 13 June 1985, the U.S. Senate conducted a hearing 

 to seek public and Administration views on ratification of 

 the 1984 Protocol, but did not take any final action on the 

 matter before the scheduled beginning of the 1985 fur seal 

 harvest on the Pribilof Islands. Therefore, domestic laws 

 and regulations became the exclusive authority for managing 

 the Pribilof Islands fur seal population. 



As a related matter, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service had not been doing everything necessary to determine 

 and mitigate the cause (s) of the continuing fur seal popula- 

 tion decline. On 29 November 1985, the Commission, in 

 consultation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, wrote 

 to the Service recommending a number of needed actions, 

 including several relevant to U.S. participation in the Fur 

 Seal Commission. Among other things, the Commission recom- 

 mended that the Service, in cooperation with the Commission, 

 constitute and convene a working group to develop a long-term 

 fur seal conservation plan similar in form and content to the 

 recovery plans required for species listed under the 

 Endangered Species Act. It also recommended that the Service 

 propose that a separate working group of the Fur Seal 

 Commission be established and convened before the 1987 Fur 

 Seal Commission meeting to develop recommendations for 

 cooperative actions to address the critical issues. 



With respect to its recommendation for jointly con- 

 stituting a working group to develop a fur seal conservation 

 plan, the Commission noted that a well-conceived conservation 

 plan, which sets forth the steps and supporting rationale for 

 identifying and attacking the causes of the population 



42 



