resources does not become a serious problem in the Convention 

 Area. 



In response to a decision at the fifth meeting of the 

 Commission, the Commission's Executive Secretary completed 

 and, in 1988, distributed to Members: (a) an information 

 brochure to be given to fishermen, researchers, and others 

 working in the Convention Area to make them aware of the 

 sources, fates, and effects of potentially hazardous marine 

 debris, and (b) a placard to be displayed aboard ships operating 

 in the Convention Area describing "do's" and "don'ts" with 

 respect to handling, storing, and discarding refuse. At the 

 1988 meeting, members of the Commission reported the loss of 

 fishing gear and sightings of debris consisting of fishing 

 buoys, gas bottles, plastic containers, net fragments, and 

 packaging material in the Convention Area. In addition, they 

 reported sighting five fur seals entangled in derelict fishing 

 gear and two male fur seals that had died after becoming 

 entangled in trammel nets being used for fish research near 

 South Georgia Island. Members also noted that Annex V of the 

 MARPOL Convention would enter into force on 31 December 1988 

 and agreed that those members who have not done so would 

 consider and take such steps as may be appropriate to accept 

 or ratify the Annex. 



The Commission noted that Members are reguired to report 

 losses of fishing gear and observations of animals entangled 

 in such gear and to survey and report observations of 

 potentially hazardous debris washed up on beaches in the 

 vicinity of their research stations in the Convention Area. 

 However, these obligations do not take into account possible 

 problems caused by birds and other organisms ingesting plastics 

 and may not provide for the acguisition of adeguate data to 

 detect and evaluate the effectiveness of steps taken to mitigate 

 problems. Accordingly, the Commission reguested that the 

 Chairman of the Scientific Committee consult the Scientific 

 Committee on Antarctic Research's Subcommittee on Bird Biology 

 and the Scientific Committee's Group of Specialists on Seals 

 to determine what additional steps might be taken to assess, 

 avoid, or mitigate problems. It was agreed that Members 

 would continue to report and to take all feasible steps to 

 prevent incidental mortality and the discard of potentially 

 hazardous debris in the Convention Area. It was also agreed 

 that this subject should be kept under continuing review. 



Ecosystem Monitoring : In 1984, the Scientific Committee 

 for the Conservation for Antarctic Marine Living Resources 

 established a working group to formulate and coordinate 

 implementation of a multi-national research program to obtain 

 information necessary to predict and detect the effects of 

 fishery development on key components of the Antarctic marine 

 ecosystem. Since then, the Working Group has developed and 



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