CHAPTER IX 
INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION 
AND CONSERVATION 
Section 108 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act directs 
that the Departments of Commerce, Interior, and State, in 
consultation with the Commission, seek to further the protection 
and conservation of marine mammals under existing international 
agreements and take such initiatives as may be necessary to 
negotiate additional agreements required to achieve the 
purposes of the Act. 
The Commission's activities in 1979 with respect to 
conservation and protection of marine mammals in the Southern 
Ocean, the International Whaling Commision, the Interim 
Convention for the Conservation of North Pacific Fur Seals, 
and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered 
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna are discussed below. 
Conservation and Protection of Marine Mammals 
in the Southern Ocean 
The Southern Ocean supports at least thirteen species 
of seals and whales, several of which are or were in danger 
of extinction as a consequence of unregulated or poorly 
regulated sealing and whaling. Commercial sealing in the 
Southern Ocean has ceased, at least temporarily, and regulation 
of whaling has improved so that these activities no longer 
pose as serious a threat as they once did to either the 
continued existence or the well-being of these species. On 
the other hand, developing fisheries, particularly the 
fishery for Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), and the 
developing interest in possible offshore oil and gas resources 
in the Antarctic pose new and perhaps more serious threats 
to marine mammals and other biota of the Southern Ocean. 
The biology and ecology of krill and krill-dependent 
species are not well documented and it is not possible, at 
present, to accurately predict how krill or krill-dependent 
species might be affected by various levels of krill harvest 
and/or by activities and events associated with the exploration 
and development of possible offshore oil and gas resources.* 
* For more detailed information, see a "Review of Information 
Regarding the Conservation of Living Resources of the 
Antarctic Marine Ecosystem", a report prepared under 
contract to the Marine Mammal Commission and available 
through the National Technical Information Service (see 
Appendix B). 
