H-65 



PROVISION FOR SCIENTIFIC ADVICE 



will obviously be basic but will need to be supplemented by careful analytical studies by 

 experts in the fields concerned. The basic studies of individual stocks, proposed in Section 2, 

 will be vital parts of the exercise. 



5.3 Arrangements for providing advice 



Administrators and other decision makers need scientific advice in a readily understandable 

 form. Also, the management process, based in part on the scientific evidence, needs to be kept 

 quite separate from the process of reaching agreement among scientists on interpretation of the 

 scientific evidence. Experience in many fishery commissions has shown that progress towards 

 administrative or political agreement on particular measures can be seriously impeded if 

 scientific arguments are re-opened during the discussion. For example, negotiations on how to 

 limit the catch of certain species to 100 000 tons, involving possible severe constraints on at 

 least some fishermen, will soon break down if it is suggested that perhaps the limit need not be 

 lower than 150 000 tons. 



Agreement between scientists in this sense does not necessarily mean unanimous agreement 

 on some single figure. It must be expected, given our uncertainty about the structure and 

 functioning of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, that there will be considerable differences in 

 interpretation. Any scientific statement or advice used in management decisions must take 

 these doubts and differences into account. This can be done within a single agreed report, 

 provided the differences and their implications (especially with regard to the results of different 

 management measures) are spelt out. 



If such a report is to be accepted and used by the decision makers as a single agreed 

 document, all concerned scientists must, in principle, be able to participate in the discussions 

 and the preparation of the report. In fishery commissions this function is usually carried out by 

 a 'standing committee on research and statistics' (a title that reflects the importance of statistics 

 and similar data to the whole process) or an equivalent body set up within the commission. 

 However, in the case of the two commissions in the north-east Atlantic (including the Baltic) 

 this function is carried out by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. For 

 practical reasons, the main work is often done by small subcommittees or working groups, 

 usually consisting of specialists on stock assessments. The experience of the fishery scientists 

 working in these groups is that groups of specialists, though normally nominated by and 

 representative of their national governments, do work effectively together and are generally 

 highly successful in carrying out the scientific work. The degree of co-operation and success 

 tends to increase with time, particularly if the group has had the chance to work together 

 before difficult and politically sensitive problems of management occur. The fishery 

 commissions often have other standing committees or groups to examine technical, but wholly 

 biological, questions concerning economic, social or other problems related to determining 

 alternative management measures. 



Similar arrangements for detailed examination and review of scientific and technical 

 aspects may be desirable for the Southern Ocean. Although consideration of the structure of 

 such a group is outside the scope of this document, once large scale exploitation starts and the 

 responsibilities of the scientific planning group increase, its effective functioning will require 

 some semi-permanent secretariat to provide support regarding such matters as compiUng routine 

 data, processing reports, and servicing meetings (which are likely to become fairly frequent). It 

 may be desirable to arrange for additional contributions to the group from those experts who 

 are concerned with more long term interests, particularly in relation to the problems of the 

 world community as a whole. 



The introduction and implementation of management measures will require some formal 

 inter-governmental arrangements; the estabUshment of the necessary structure will call for 

 extensive international discussions, taking into account a large number of factors, of which 

 scientific research will be only one. 



