Chapter IV — International 



voluntarily require compliance with the proposed 

 management plan. 



Recognizing that effective implementation of the 

 Protocol on Environmental Protection would require 

 development of environmental monitoring programs, 

 the Parties agreed that a meeting of experts should be 

 held to consider and provide advice on: (1) the types 

 of cooperative, long-term monitoring programs needed 

 to give effect to the provisions of the Protocol; (2) the 

 best methods for collecting, reporting, storing, ex- 

 changing, and analyzing needed data; and (3) where 

 and how frequently various environmental parameters 

 should be measured. The meeting also agreed that the 

 Consultative Parties would have to meet annually, 

 rather than biennially, and that meeting should be held 

 in the spring rather than the fall to provide for effec- 

 tive implementation of the Protocol. Most, but not 

 all. Parties agreed that a small secretariat should be 

 established to facilitate operation of the Antarctic 

 Treaty system. 



The Group of Experts Meeting on Environmental 

 Monitoring is tentatively scheduled to be held in 

 Argentina in June 1992. The next Consultative 

 Meeting is to be held in Venice, Italy, in November 

 1992. The Commission, in consultation with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, will work with the 

 Department of State, the National Science Foundation, 

 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

 the Environmental Protection Agency, and other 

 Federal agencies to prepare for these meetings. 



Activities Related to Marine Living Resources 



In the early 1960s, the Soviet Union and Japan 

 began experimental fisheries for krill (Euphausia 

 superba) in the Southern Ocean. In the late 1960s, 

 the Soviet Union began commercial finfish fishing in 

 the Southern Ocean. As noted in previous Commis- 

 sion Annual Reports, concerns that developing fisher- 

 ies, particularly the krill fishery, could adversely 

 affect seals, whales, and other non-target, as well as 

 target, species led the Antarctic Treaty Consultative 

 Parties to negotiate and adopt the Convention on the 

 Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. 

 The Convention was concluded in May 1980 and 

 came into force in April 1982. It established the 

 Commission and the Scientific Committee for the 



Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. 

 The first meetings of these bodies were held in 1982. 

 The Marine Mammal Commission's involvement in 

 negotiation of the Convention and the first nine 

 meetings of the Commission and Scientific Committee 

 are described in previous Annual Reports. 



The 1991 meetings of the Commission and Scien- 

 tific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic 

 Marine Living Resources were held in Hobart, 

 Tasmania, Australia, from 21 October to 1 November 

 1991.' Durmg the meetings, the Commission and 

 Scientific Committee considered a broad range of 

 issues, including finfish conservation, assessment and 

 monitoring of exploited krill stocks, development of 

 a scientific observer program, information require- 

 ments regarding new and developing fisheries, assess- 

 ment and avoidance of incidental mortality, and 

 ecosystem monitoring. 



Finfish Conservation — The total finfish catch in 

 the 1990-91 season was 98,610 metric tons, up 

 significantly from the 47,720 metric tons taken in 

 1989-90. As in the past, most of the catch was taken 

 by fishing vessels from the Soviet Union. The 

 increase was due to a more than three-fold increase in 

 the catch of lantern fish (Electrona carlsbergi), a 

 small myctophid that is an important component in the 

 diet of several seabirds and other higher trophic level 

 species. 



At the 1991 meeting, the Conmiission adopted 

 conservation measures: (1) prohibiting directed 

 fishing for six species in Statistical Sub-area 48.3 (the 

 area around South Georgia Island); (2) limiting the 

 allowable catch of Dissosrichus eleginoides in Statisti- 

 cal Sub-area 48.3 to 3,500 metric tons; and (3) 

 limiting the total catch of E. carlsbergi in Statistical 

 Sub-area 48.3 to 245,000 metric tons with no more 

 than 53,000 metric tons being taken from the Shag 

 Rocks region. The latter species, as noted earlier, is 

 an important component in the diets of several sea- 

 birds and other higher trophic level species and the 

 rapid increase in catch is cause for concern. 



On a related matter, some of the fishing countries 

 have not been providing required catch, effort, and 

 related biological information as and when needed. 

 The Scientific Committee called this to the attention of 



129 



