MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION — Annual Report for 1992 
The meeting was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 
on 1-4 June 1992. Participants included representa- 
tives of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Re- 
search, the Council of Managers of National Antarctic 
Programs, IUCN-The World Conservation Union 
(formerly the International Union for the Conservation 
of Nature and Natural Resources), and a number of 
other international organizations, as well as repre- 
sentatives of 20 of the 26 Antarctic Treaty Consulta- 
tive Parties. A Marine Mammal Commission repre- 
sentative was a member of the U.S. delegation. 
To help prepare for the meeting, on 29-31 January 
1992 the National Science Foundation’s Division of 
Polar Programs held a Workshop on Antarctic Opera- 
tions Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 
Using information from this workshop and other 
sources, an interagency working group chaired by the 
Department of State subsequently developed a paper 
that identified and discussed a broad range of issues 
related to environmental impact monitoring. This 
paper and one prepared and submitted independently 
by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 
and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic 
Programs were used to structure and focus meeting 
discussions. 
The meeting participants concluded that the activi- 
ties most likely to have impacts of concern relative to 
the Antarctic Treaty Protocol on Environmental 
Protection are the following: (1) station and airstrip 
construction and logistic operations; (2) waste water 
and sewage disposal; (3) incineration of waste; 
(4) power and heat generation; (5) activities involving 
taking or affecting the habitat of native fauna and 
flora; (6) scientific research; and (7) accidents result- 
ing in fuel spills or other types of environmental 
contamination. The meeting participants noted that 
significant adverse environmental impacts would be 
unlikely, except perhaps at the local level, if all 
activities in Antarctica are conducted in accordance 
with the provisions of the Protocol on Environmental 
Protection. They also noted that environmental im- 
pact monitoring programs should be designed to meet 
specific objectives as economically as possible, and 
that they should be subject to periodic review to 
ensure that the objectives are being met cost-effective- 
ly. In this context, the meeting noted that programs 
should be designed and carried out cooperatively by 
136 
all countries with programs in the Antarctic, and that 
both basic environmental data and monitoring data 
should be shared, so as to minimize costs. 
The meeting recommended that research programs 
be established at a representative subset of facilities of 
different types and sizes in different environments 
(e.g., inland stations on rock or earth and coastal 
stations on ice and ice shelves) to assess their impacts 
on the surrounding environment. The meeting also 
recommended that steps be taken to establish an 
Antarctic Data Directory and a cooperative system for 
archiving and providing easy access to environmental 
and other data necessary for cost-effective impact 
assessment and monitoring. 
The meeting report was provided to the XVIIth 
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting for its consid- 
eration (see below). 
XVIIth Antarctic Treaty 
Consultative Meeting 
The XVIIth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting 
was held in Venice, Italy, on 11-28 November 1992. 
It was attended by representatives of all 26 Antarctic 
Treaty Consultative Parties. These are Argentina, 
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, 
Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, The 
Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, New Zealand, 
Norway, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, 
Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and 
Uruguay. In addition, representatives of 10 of the 15 
Treaty Parties that do not have consultative status 
attended as observers. These were Austria, Canada, 
Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, Hunga- 
ry, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Romania, 
and Switzerland. Representatives of a number of 
inter-governmental and non-governmental organiza- 
tions also attended as observers. A Marine Mammal 
Commission representative was a member of the U.S. 
delegation. 
The purposes of the regular Antarctic Treaty 
Consultative Meetings are to exchange information, 
hold consultations, and consider and recommend to 
the Party governments measures to further the princi- 
ples and objectives of the Antarctic Treaty. The 
