Chapter V — International 



pursued at the working group meeting and the subse- 

 quent meeting of the Conventin's Scientific Commit- 

 tee. The Marine Mammal Commission will continue 

 to work with these agencies to determine how best to 

 implement the ecosystem-approach to fisheries man- 

 agement mandated by the convention. 



Resumption of Closed Fisheries — Fisheries often 

 develop faster than the information base necessary to 

 estimate optimum sustainable yield levels. Rapid 

 development in turn often leads to overcapitalization 

 of fisheries, over-exploitation of fishery resources, 

 and management to minimize loss of investment 

 capital rather than management to maintain productivi- 

 ty of the resource. 



The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic 

 Marine Living Resources has recognized this dilemma 

 and adopted guidelines to ensure that new and explor- 

 atory fisheries develop and grow no faster than the 

 information base necessary to estimate the size and 

 productivity of the target stock and its interactions 

 with other species. During the 1995 meetings of the 

 Commission and the Scientific Committee for the 

 Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 

 U.S. representatives suggested that it would be 

 desirable to develop similar guidelines for ensuring 

 that fisheries that have been closed because of deple- 

 tion of the target stock do not again cause depletion of 

 the stock if resumed. Both the Commission and the 

 Scientific Committee endorsed this suggestion. 



The content of a possible conservation measure to 

 guide reopening of closed fisheries will be considered 

 at the 1996 meetings of the Antarctic Living Resourc- 

 es Commission and Scientific Committee. The 

 Marine Mammal Commission will work with the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, the Department of 

 State, the National Science Foundation, the Antarctic 

 and Southern Ocean Coalition, and relevant U.S. 

 scientists to identify provisions that should be included 

 in such a conservation measure. 



Proposed Overview of Measures Taken to Imple- 

 ment the Convention — During the 1995 meeting of 

 the Antarctic Living Resources Commission, several 

 members questioned whether conservation measures 

 implemented unilaterally by other members were 

 consistent with the intent and provisions of the Con- 



vention. They proposed and it was agreed that efforts 

 to date to implement the Convention should be re- 

 viewed at the 1996 Commission meeting. 



The Marine Mammal Commission believes that 

 efforts to implement the Convention have been inno- 

 vative and generally successful. The Commission also 

 believes that many of the measures enacted to give 

 effect to the Convention establish important precedents 

 that can guide ecosystem-oriented management of 

 fisheries in other geographic areas. Further, the 

 Commission believes that there may well be additional 

 steps that might be taken to improve implementation 

 of the Convention and that the proposed review of 

 steps taken to date can help to identify those mea- 

 sures. The Commission therefore will work with the 

 Department of State, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, the National Science Foundation, and inter- 

 ested scientists and environmental groups to identify 

 issues that might be raised during the review in 1996. 



U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources 

 Research Program 



The Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention 

 Act of 1984 provides the domestic legislative authority 

 necessary for the United States to implement the 

 Convention of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. 

 Among other things, the Act directs the National 

 Science Foundation to continue to support basic 

 marine research in the Antarctic and that the Secretary 

 of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of 

 State, the Director of the National Science Founda- 

 tion, and appropriate officials of other Federal agen- 

 cies, such as the Marine Mammal Commission, 

 prepare, implement, and annually update a plan for 

 directed research necessary to effectively implement 

 the Convention. The Secretary of Commerce has 

 delegated responsibility for designing and conducting 

 the directed resource program to the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service. The Service in turn has delegated 

 responsibility for the program to the Southwest 

 Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. 



[Information on this program and related matters can 

 be obtained from the Chief, Antarctic Ecosystem 

 Research Group, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 

 P.O. Box 271, La Jolla, California 92038.] 



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