To evaluate the effectiveness of the program after 
three years of operation, the Director of the Southwest 
Center held a program review on 27-29 May 1992. 
The review panel included representatives of the 
Marine Mammal Commission and several universities, 
as well as scientists from the National Marine Fisher- 
ies Service. The panel found the program to be well 
conceived and focused appropriately on tasks that 
(a) are essential to meeting the ecosystem-oriented 
objectives of the Convention for the Conservation of 
Antarctic Marine Living Resources, (b) can best be 
done with U.S. technology and scientific expertise, 
and (c) are not being done by other Parties to the 
Convention. The panel noted, however, that the pro- 
gram has been constrained by limited and uncertain 
funding, by uncertainties regarding ship support, and 
by the inability to conduct trawl surveys with com- 
mercial-size nets. The panel recommended that the 
Center seek funding and ship commitments at least 
two years in advance and for periods of at least 3-5 
years. Doing so would permit better long-term plan- 
ning and coordination with the basic research program 
being supported by the National Science Foundation 
and the directed research programs carried out by 
other members of the Commission for the Conser- 
vation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The 
panel also recommended that an ecosystem model be 
developed and used to help identify research and 
management priorities and that a quantitative popula- 
tion biologist be hired or assigned fulltime to do 
modeling studies and stock assessments. 
Convention on International Trade 
in Endangered Species 
of Wild Fauna and Flora 
The Convention on International Trade in Endan- 
gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora provides an 
international framework for regulating trade in ani- 
mals and plants that are or may become threatened 
with extinction. The Convention entered into force in 
1975 and currently comprises 118 Parties, including 
Djibouti, Czechoslovakia, Equatorial Guinea, and 
Barbados, all of whom became signatories during 
1992. Within the United States, the Fish and Wildlife 
Service acts as the lead agency for Federal actions 
carried out under the Convention. 
143 
Chapter V — International 
The Convention provides for three levels of trade 
control, depending upon the extent to which a species 
is endangered. The degree of control is reflected by 
a species’ inclusion on one of three appendices to the 
Convention. Appendix I includes those species 
considered to be threatened with extinction and that 
are or may be affected by trade. Appendix II includes 
species that are not necessarily threatened with extinc- 
tion but could become so unless trade in them is 
Strictly controlled. Species may also be included on 
Appendix II if they are so similar in appearance to a 
protected species that the two could be confused. 
Appendix III includes species that any Party identifies 
as being subject to regulation within its jurisdiction 
for the purpose of preventing or restricting exploita- 
tion and for which the Party needs the cooperation of 
other Parties to control trade. Additions or deletions 
of species listed on Appendices I and II require 
concurrence by two-thirds of the Parties voting on a 
listing proposal. Species may be placed on Appendix 
III unilaterally by any Party. 
Parties to the Convention meet every two years to 
consider, among other things, additions and deletions 
to the appendices. The Eighth Conference of Parties 
to the Convention was held 2-13 March 1992 in 
Kyoto, Japan. Only one change was proposed with 
respect to marine mammals. This was the U.S. 
proposal, discussed in the previous annual report, to 
remove the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angusti- 
rostris) from Appendix II. The proposal was made at 
the request of the National Marine Fisheries Service, 
which noted that the species has re-occupied most of 
its historic range and that other than losses through a 
small incidental catch, taking is limited to a few 
specimens collected for scientific research or public 
display. At the Eighth Conference, the Convention 
Parties agreed to remove the northern elephant seal 
from Appendix II. 
Prior to the Conference of Parties, the issue of 
adding the walrus to Appendix II was again raised. 
This matter had been considered in 1987 when The 
Netherlands submitted and then withdrew a proposal 
to list the walrus on Appendix II. During 1991, The 
Netherlands initiated a study to determine whether to 
resubmit the proposal to the 1992 Convention. The 
study concluded that available information on walrus 
populations was not sufficient to meet the criteria for 
