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so that a total cessation of all harvesting could not be 

 achieved. 



2. No Action 



The contrasting extreme of possible alternative action 

 is no effort to negotiate a conservation regime and conse- 

 quently no conservation measures for Antarctic waters. The 

 consequences of this alternative are unrestricted and un- 

 regulated harvesting of all potentially commercial species. 

 In time, technical and economic limitations on the harvest- 

 ing of krill will be overcome. Intensive harvesting can be 

 expected over the next several decades. An unregulated har- 

 vest will result in overexploitation of all harvested species 



This alternative represents the greatest impact on the 

 stocks of renewable resources. Direct impacts on the sepa- 

 rate stocks as they are harvested can be expected from over- 

 exploitation. In addition, indirect impacts on seals, whales 

 fish, birds and cephalopods from exploitation of krill would 

 be maximum. 



With overexploitation of krill or another species, the 

 balance within the Antarctic system and the structure of 

 trophic relationships can be upset, thus seriously damaging 

 the health of the ecosystem. Unregulated harvesting will 

 operate to maximize short term gains, thus potentially 

 decreasing the overall productivity of the Antarctic eco- 

 system over the next century. 



This alternative represents the greatest possibility 

 of local pollution problems from harvesting activities. 



In the absence of an agreement it is expected that 

 commercial data will not be reported completely so that 

 this source of information will be lost. This alternative 

 would result in the greatest deviation from a natural or 

 undisturbed state for the Antarctic ecosystem. 



The actions of the U.S. and other Treaty nations at 

 the Ninth Consultative Meeting indicate that they do not 

 support this alternative (see resolution IX. 2. in Appendix 

 A) . However it is the default alternative should negotia- 

 tions fail to establish a regime. 



3. National Action 



The second alternative is separate action on conser- 

 vation of Antarctic living resources by nations interested 

 in harvesting and some informal coordination between pol- 

 icies. Lacking consistent management objectives and a 

 procedure for establishing and enforcing conservation 



