Consultative Meeting established three new Sites of Special 

 Scientific Interest and designated the monument to Richard E. 

 Byrd, located at McMurdo Station, and the Antarctic Service 

 Expedition's East Base, Stonington Island, constructed and used 

 by the United States in 1940-1941, as a historic monument and 

 site, respectively. 



Development and operation of the Antarctic Protected Area 

 System will be considered further at the Special Antarctic Treaty 

 Consultative Meeting to be held in 1990. 



Improving the Comparability and Accessibility of Antarctic 

 Data — Much of the data currently being compiled by national 

 Antarctic programs may be useful in the future for assessing the 

 possible environmental effects of scientific research programs, 

 fisheries, tourism, and other activities in the Antarctic. The 

 utility of the data will depend, in part, upon their accessi- 

 bility and comparability. Therefore, in response to a U.S. 

 initiative, the Xlllth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting 

 reguested that the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 

 consider and provide advice on steps that might usefully be taken 

 to improve the comparability and accessibility of environmental 

 data regarding Antarctica. Taking into account the subseguent 

 advice provided by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic 

 Research, the XVth Consultative Meeting adopted a recommendation 

 calling for the establishment of an Antarctic Scientific and 

 Environmental Data System and, towards this end, agreed to hold a 

 meeting of government and non-government data management experts, 

 in advance of the 1991 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, to 

 consider and provide advice on how best to establish and maintain 

 the data system. 



Activities Related to Living Resources 



Experimental harvesting of Antarctic krill was begun by the 

 Soviet Union and Japan in the early 1960s. Commercial harvesting 

 of finfish was begun by the Soviet Union in the late 1960s. As 

 noted in previous Commission reports, concerns that the 

 developing fisheries, particularly the krill fishery, could 

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

 the target species being caught, led the Antarctic Treaty 

 Consultative Parties to negotiate and adopt the Convention on the 

 Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The 

 Convention, which was concluded in May 1980 and came into force 

 in April 1982, established the Commission and the Scientific 

 Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living 

 Resources. The first meetings of the Antarctic Commission and 

 its Scientific Committee were held in 1982. The Marine Mammal 

 Commission's involvement in negotiation of the Convention and the 

 first seven meetings of the Commission and Scientific Committee 

 established by the Convention are described in previous Annual 

 Reports . 



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