198 



Concerns over the health and stability of the marine 

 environment and the Bering Sea ecosystem were expressed 

 repeatedly during deliberations over the Protocol to extend 

 the International Convention on the Conservation of the North 

 Pacific Fur Seal (the "Convention") in the 1980's. The one 

 issue that both opponents and proponents of the Protocol 

 agreed upon was the need for an ecosystem-based approach to 

 protecting and managing the resources of the Bering Sea and 

 the North Pacific Ocean. 



In 1981, Alaska Governor Hammond testified on Senate 



ratification of the 1980 Protocol to extend the Convention by 



highlighting the need to retreat from single-species 



management approaches. As he stated: 



The issue which is brought to the fore is 

 whether we are in fact attempting to achieve a 

 systems management approach (as is desirable) , 

 including maintenance of healthy populations of 

 those components affected by man, or whether we 

 are pursuing mutually exclusive goals for 

 different species or groups which will 

 eventually have undesirable yet unnecessary 

 consequences. At present we are unfortunately 

 working toward the latter, at least in the 

 North Pacific and Bering Sea regions. 44 



This concern was echoed in testimony submitted by the 

 Villages of St. George and St. Paul, where it was stated, 

 •• [i]n light of our experience it would be unwise to ignore the 





^orth Pacific Fur Seals; Hearing Before the Senate C orrro. on 

 Foreign Relations , 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 55 (1981). 



[19653-O00I/DA94O59O.06O] -28- 



