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The first of these sub-options would likely 

 provide the necessary margin of safety in avoiding 

 harmful impacts upon the Antarctic marine ecosystem, 

 and would be the easier to negotiate. The second 

 sub-option would be more difficult to negotiate but 

 would reflect a more cautious and conservative approach 

 to exploitation of resources, such as krill, with which 

 there is little international experience. For this 

 reason, the second sub-option or variant, providing 

 for the interim measures approach described above, is 

 preferred. 



E. Negotiation of an International Agreement 

 Establishing Specific Conservation Measures or a 

 Temporary Moratorium 



This alternative would involve negotiation in the 

 international agreement of specific conservation measures 

 for some or all Antarctic marine living resources or a 

 moratorium on harvesting until such measures can be devel- 

 oped. It would imply a conservation regime similar to 

 that in the proposed federal action. The alternative 

 would differ from the proposed federal action in one of 

 two ways : 



-- the agreement would set forth detailed conser- 

 vation measures for some or all species, rather than 

 provide for interim catch limitations or for other 

 specific initial conservation measures to be developed 

 by the organization established pursuant to the regime, 

 or 



— the agreement would impose an obligation to 

 abstain from harvesting until the conservation regime 

 became fully operative rather than permit harvesting 

 to take place while conservation measures were being 

 developed. 



This approach would pose fewer risks to the 

 Antarctic marine ecosystem than the previous alter- 

 natives, including the proposed federal action. However, 

 it suffers from several major drawbacks. There is 

 insufficient data upon which to base specific conser- 

 vation measures. An attempt to do so ab initio could 

 significantly decrease incentives for nations with 

 harvesting interests to participate in the conservation 

 regime. A moratorium on harvesting until sufficient 



