CHAPTER V 



INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARINE MAMMAL 

 PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION 



Section 108 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act directs 

 that the Departments of Commerce, the Interior, and State, in 

 consultation with the Marine Mammal 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 1988 with respect to conser- 

 vation and protection of marine mammals in the Southern Ocean, 

 the International Whaling Commission, the Convention on Inter- 

 national Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 

 and the Convention for the Protection and Development of the 

 Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region are discussed 

 below. This Chapter also discusses the Commission's efforts 

 in 1988 to assist other agencies in developing research and 

 policy regarding the Arctic. 



Conservation and Protection of Marine Mammals 

 in the Southern Ocean 



At least thirteen species of seals and whales inhabit or 

 can be found seasonally in the Southern Ocean, the seas 

 surrounding Antarctica. Two of the seal species, the Antarctic 

 fur seal and the southern elephant seal, were nearly extirpated 

 by unregulated hunting in the late 18th and early 19th 

 centuries. In addition, Southern Ocean populations of large 

 whales, including populations of humpback, blue, fin, sei, 

 and sperm whales, were severely depleted by poorly regulated 

 commercial whaling that began in the Antarctic in the early 

 1900s. 



In 1972, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties 

 concluded the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic 

 Seals to regulate commercial sealing, should it resume in the 

 Antarctic. In 1982, the International Whaling Commission 

 agreed to a moratorium on commercial whaling, which took 

 effect in 1986 (see the following section of this Chapter) . 

 Thus, commercial sealing and commercial whaling presently do 



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