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V. SUMMARY OF AVAILABLE DATA ON MAJOR ANIMAL GROUPS 



Both the sealing and whaling industries had at least one 

 important aspect in common: attention was only directed to the 

 species. No consideration was paid to the environment, and in 

 the case of the seals, no bona fide management or conservation 

 efforts were made until it was too late. Although nations did 

 attempt to develop policies to conserve whales, many feel that 

 these efforts failed to prevent over-harvesting until it was 

 virtually too late. Conservation strategies were conceived as 

 single species actions without consideration for ecological 

 aspects of the whales' biotic and physical environment. 



Moreover, there are other aspects of the ecosystem in general 

 which were not considered with this sort of single species 

 management. For example, ecosystem features such as nutrient 

 cycling, energy flow, and species interactions such as competition 

 and predation ought to be incorporated into management plans. 

 These features must be considered today in recognition of their 

 values to the entire ecosystem and their potential impact on both 

 consumptive and non-consumptive uses of resources. Alternative 

 priorities to direct resource exploitation include scientific 

 research, tourism, aesthetic values, and maintaining ecosystem 

 viability. 



Although it is likely that many factors were responsible for 

 the mismanagement and consequent over-fishing of whales, the 

 single species approach was probably a major shortcoming. 

 Consideration of the diverse features of the target species' 

 ecosystem is better adapted to flexible, conservative management. 

 An ecosystem approach to krill management is, therefore, 

 imperative in light of krill 's central role in the ecosystem. 

 In an effort to understand how various forms of Antarctic marine 

 life may interact, available information on several major 

 Antarctic faunal groups will be reviewed. These groups are 

 important both because of their central role in the ecosystem 

 and the possible associated impacts on these groups resulting 

 from future harvest of living resources. 



A. Antarctic Krill 



Central to this discussion of Antarctic living resources 

 is Euphausia superba , known as Antarctic krill. Much of the 

 recent krill literature pertains to potential new fisheries on 

 its sizeable stocks present in the Southern Ocean. However, 

 research on the biology and ecology of krill is scant, and much 

 remains to be learned about krill 's natural history. Several 

 comprehensive works regarding krill and Euphausiids in general 

 include the work of Eraser (1936), Bargmann (1945), Marr (1962), 



