consequently was little likelihood that squid fishing would 

 expand in the Convention Area in the near future. 



Squid are important components in the diet of several 

 species of cetaceans, pinnipeds, and birds that occur in the 

 Southern Ocean. It was agreed, therefore, that any further 

 development of a squid fishery should be carefully monitored, 

 that fine-scale catch and effort data should be submitted to the 

 Commission, and that the Secretariat should develop a recommended 

 system for reporting squid jigging catch and effort statistics. 



Observation and Inspection — As noted in the Marine Mammal 

 Commission's previous Annual Report, a Standing Committee was 

 constituted during the 1987 meeting of the Living Resources 

 Commission to help develop and oversee implementation of the 

 system of observation and inspection mandated by Article XXIV of 

 the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living 

 Resources. This Committee met during the 1988 Commission meeting 

 and formulated basic provisions for a system of observation and 

 inspection which subsequently were adopted by the Commission. 

 The Standing Committee met again during the 1989 meetings of the 

 Commission and Scientific Committee. Among other things, it 

 developed: a pennant to identify vessels carrying inspectors; an 

 inspection report form; an inspector identification card; a list 

 of conservation measures currently in effect; and an inspectors' 

 operating manual. Completion of these technical/administrative 

 details permits implementation of the system of observation and 

 inspection during the 1989/1990 fishing season. 



Assessment and Avoidance of Incidental Mortality — Seals, 

 whales, birds, and other marine organisms may be caught and 

 killed incidentally during commercial fishing operations, may be 

 entangled and killed in lost or discarded fishing gear, and may 

 die as a result of ingesting plastic bags and other debris dis- 

 carded in the Convention Area (see Chapter VI of this Report for 

 more detailed discussions of these problems) . The Commission for 

 the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has recog- 

 nized these problems and has adopted a number of measures to try 

 to insure that accidental and incidental mortality of marine 

 living resources does not become a serious problem in the 

 Convention Area. 



During the Vlllth meeting of the Living Resources 

 Commission, seven Parties — Argentina, Australia, Japan, the 

 Republic of Korea, the U.S.S.R., the United Kingdom, and the 

 United States — reported on ongoing efforts to assess and avoid 

 accidental and incidental mortality of Antarctic marine living 

 resources. Australia reported that it had conducted systematic 

 surveys of the coasts of Heard Island in 1986/1987 and 1987/1988 

 and of Macquarie Island in 1988 and 1989 to determine the types, 

 quantities, rates of accumulation, and possible sources of marine 

 debris washing up on the islands, and had found a high proportion 



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