21 



Mr. Sensenbrenner. I can say, no questions, Mr. Chairman, in 

 fewer words than Mr. Brown. 



[Laughter.] 



The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Sensenbrenner. 



Mr. Bartlett, questions? 



Mr. Bartlett. No questions. 



The Chairman. The gentleman passes. 



With that, we have completed the first panel. We thank you very, 

 very much, and we look forward to your continued assistance as we 

 move this through. 



We'd like to build a little fire under the Senate. We think we're 

 going to get it out of the House pretty expeditiously but any help 

 we can get in building a fire over in the Senate to move forward 

 on it will be much appreciated as well. 



Thank you very much for your testimony. 



I'd now like to call the second panel. 



Ms. Kathryn S. Fuller, President of the World Wildlife Fund. 



And Dr. Robert H. Rutford, who is with the Program of Geo- 

 sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. 



We ask you to join us at the witness table please. 



[Pause.] 



And, Ms. Fuller, we'll begin with you. We'd be happy to have any 

 testimony that you might wish to present to the Committee at this 

 time. 



STATEMENT OF MS. KATHRYN S. FULLER, PRESIDENT, WORLD 

 WILDLIFE FUND, WASHINGTON, DC 



Ms. Fuller. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 



I'm here today not only on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund, but 

 also on behalf of the Antarctic and Southern Oceans Coalition 

 which is a group of 200 organizations more or less internationally 

 and about 26 large organizations here in the United States. 



And I am here in enthusiastic support of H.R. 3060, the legisla- 

 tion to implement the Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environ- 

 mental Protection. 



Let me speak first as a life long conservationist — and a profes- 

 sional conservationist now for about 20 years — in saying that Ant- 

 arctica truly is a remarkable biological resource. 



We've already heard from the previous witnesses about the wild- 

 life there, about penguins and seals and whales. 



Let me add that the sanctuary supports the blue whale, which 

 many think is the largest creature ever to have existed on our 

 planet. There are probably only three or four hundred blue whales 

 left at this time. So the Antarctic Sanctuary for Whales is very im- 

 portant from that perspective. 



The Antarctic, though, in addition to large creatures, supports an 

 extraordinary ecosystem, phytoplankton, the crill that feed upon 

 phjd:oplankton, the small shrimp-like creatures that themselves 

 make up one of the most important global food chains on the earth. 



So from a conservationist's perspective, there is truly a great 

 deal at stake in the Antarctic, and ironically the important sci- 

 entific characteristics that we've all heard about already too, its 

 value as a laboratory, holds some of the seeds of potentially the 

 Antarctic's undoing. 



