on the inventory was completed in October 1986 and, on 14 

 October 1986, the President of the Dominican Republic designated 

 Silver Bank as a humpback whale sanctuary. The Presidential 

 decree creating the sanctuary prohibits all hunting, capturing, 

 or injuring of any marine mammal within the sanctuary boun- 

 daries. Also banned is the dumping of "contaminated, explosive 

 or electrical materials" and the dredging, drilling, or alter- 

 ation of the sea bottom. The Silver Bank sanctuary should 

 contribute significantly to the protection and recovery of 

 the northwest Atlantic humpback whale population and could 

 serve as a model for creating sanctuaries elsewhere. 



As noted in Chapter V of this Report, the Convention for 

 the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of 

 the Wider Caribbean Region is intended to protect marine 

 resources and habitat in Caribbean areas vulnerable to 

 pollution. Article 10 of the Convention calls on Contracting 

 Parties to "take all appropriate measures to protect and 

 preserve rare or fragile ecosystems as well as the habitat of 

 depleted, threatened, or endangered species...." In response 

 to this charge, the Parties to the Convention have initiated 

 steps to develop a Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and 

 Wildlife in the Wider Caribbean Region (see Chapter V) . 



In support of this initiative, the Commission wrote to the 

 Department of State on 28 September 1988 to call attention, 

 among other things, to the fact that Silver and Navidad Banks, 

 which lie south of the Turks and Caicos Islands and north of 

 the Dominican Republic, are the principal calving and breeding 

 grounds for the North Atlantic humpback whale population. 

 With its letter, the Commission provided a copy of a report 

 prepared by the Center for Environmental Education describing 

 the objectives of the Silver Bank sanctuary. The Commission 

 noted that the report provides a good example of the types of 

 things that can and should be done to develop and implement 

 management plans for marine areas requiring special protection. 



As discussed in Chapter V, negotiation of the protocol was 

 initiated at a meeting of experts held on St. Croix, U.S. 

 Virgin Islands, on 24-26 October 1988. A report of that 

 meeting is expected to be available by the end of January 1989. 



Northern Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) 



The northern right whale is the world's most endangered 

 large whale. Remnant populations are found in the western 

 North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. Available whaling 

 records dating back to the 16th century indicate that, during 

 the 80-year period between 1530 and 1610, Basque whalers in 

 the Newfoundland and Labrador areas of eastern Canada took 

 between 25,000 and 40,000 whales (about 300 to 500 animals 



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