back to the Policy Group staff. The Policy Group staff provided 

 background papers and guidance for each of the informal meetings 

 of the Planning Group previously mentioned. In preparing for 

 the most recent meeting in Leningrad, the Policy Group devel- 

 oped and advised the National Science Foundation representative 

 of U.S. positions on several key issues. In particular, the 

 Policy Group noted that the International Arctic Science 

 Committee should be a broadly based, open, non-governmental 

 organization which would promote and coordinate, but not govern, 

 scientific cooperation in the Arctic and that the U.S. represen- 

 tative should take such steps as might be possible to guide 

 the development of a proposal to satisfy these reguirements. 



On 23 December 1988, the State Department transmitted 

 informally a draft copy of proposed Founding Articles for the 

 International Arctic Science Committee. In 1989, the Marine 

 Mammal Commission will comment on the draft Founding Articles 

 and will continue to provide advice on establishment of the 

 proposed International Arctic Science Committee. 



Scientific Organization for the North Pacific 



At the same time that discussion of the International 

 Arctic Science Committee was underway, representatives of 

 Federal agencies, including the Marine Mammal Commission, and 

 the U.S. scientific community began discussions to develop a 

 convention for an international marine science organization 

 for the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Increased scien- 

 tific understanding of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea 

 is necessary to conserve living marine resources and to describe 

 and predict physical oceanographic conditions and processes. 

 Despite this need, basic and applied science programs necessary 

 to reliably assess and monitor the nature and dynamics of 

 marine ecosystems in the North Pacific have not kept pace 

 with exploitation of resources. This is due in part to the 

 fact that the study of large marine ecosystems, which include 

 international waters and overlap national jurisdictions, 

 reguires effective international cooperation. 



In September 1987, a concept paper on a possible marine 

 science organization for the North Pacific Ocean and Berina 

 Sea was transmitted to the State Department by the Canadian 

 Embassy, along with an invitation to participate in a meeting 

 on 8-9 December 1987 in Ottawa, Canada, to exchange views on 

 the paper. The invitation was also extended to the Governments 

 of Japan, the People's Republic of China, and the Union of 

 Soviet Socialist Republics. All invited nations sent represen- 

 tatives to the meeting. Representatives from the National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of 

 State, the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, and the U.S. scientific 

 community participated in the meeting. It was agreed that an 

 organization might be useful to foster scientific cooperation 



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