24 



elephant, fur, and Ross seals in Antarctica and establishes annual quotas on the ex- 

 ploitation of leopard, crabeater, and Weddell seals. 



In the 1970s, the Treaty Parties developed the Convention on the Conservation 

 of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in response to heavy fishing and the depletion 

 of fish stocks. It entered into force in 1982 and encourages the study and conserva- 

 tion of living resources within Antarctica's overall marine ecosystem. The United 

 States ratified this convention in 1984 when Congress passed the Antarctic Marine 

 Living Resources Convention Act, which vests regulatory authority in the Secretary 

 of Commerce. 



The environmental community has long valued the unspoiled beauty of Antarctica 

 with its wealth of wildlife and recognized the need to preserve the region from the 

 dangers of over-development and exploitation for proiit or political purposes. We 

 have sought to prevent over-harvesting of the region's marine resources, to protect 

 Antarctic wildlife and wilderness, to monitor environmental impacts from scientific 

 stations, and to emphasize the overall need to keep environmental protection as a 

 top priority within the Antarctic Treaty system.'' In the 1980s, conservation organi- 

 zations from around the world united with the goal of providing Antarctica's envi- 

 ronment with longlasting and comprehensive protection as a world park in which 

 human activities would nave minimal impacts on Antarctica's fragile environment. 



At that time, the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty were negotiating the Convention 

 on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA), which was 

 signed by the Consultative Parties in 1988. Under the auspices of the Antarctic and 

 Southern Ocean Coalition, a group of over 200 organizations worldwide (including 

 the 26 in the U.S.), the environmental community focused its efforts on defeating 

 CRAMRA and replacing that agreement with a comprehensive environmental pro- 

 tection regime, including a permanent prohibition on commercial mineral resource 

 activities in Antarctica. This effort led to Congressional passage of the Antarctic 

 Protection Act of 1990 (APA), which prohibits commercial resource activities by U.S. 

 nationals on an interim basis pending entering into force for the U.S. of an inter- 

 national ban on mineral activities as foreseen by the APA. 



The environmental community therefore welcomed the efforts of the Antarctic 

 Treaty System nations during the 1980s to negotiate a comprehensive environ- 

 mental protection agreement. Those negotiations resulted in 1991 in the signature 

 by the 26 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties of the Protocol to the Antarctic 

 Treaty on Environmental Protection. The Protocol and its annexes are desig:ned to 

 protect the Antarctic for its wilderness and aesthetic value and for scientific re- 

 search. They establish guiding environmental principles, a Committee on Environ- 

 mental Protection to advise the Antarctic Treaty parties, and mandatory dispute 

 settlement procedures. They also establish new, protective standards governing min- 

 eral resource exploration and development activities, environmental impact assess- 

 ments, conservation of Antarctic flora and fauna, waste disposal and management, 

 and prevention of marine pollution. A fifth annex, added to the Protocol shortly 

 after it was signed, establishes a system of protected areas in Antarctica. 



The Protocol has environmental limitations, however. It establishes only minimal 

 control on incineration and only calls for negotiations rather than resolving the is- 

 sues of liability for environmental damages and institutional inspection authority to 

 monitor Protocol compliance. Nonetheless, we in the environmental community con- 

 sider the Protocol to be a significant step forward. 

 II. THE PRESSING NEED FOR IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION 



The Antarctic holds some of the most pristine and biologically unique ecosystems 

 on Earth. The southern ocean is virtually unmatched as a font of ocean productivity; 

 its extraordinary phytoplankton and krill support much of the ocean food chain glob- 

 ally and, within tne new circumpolar Sanctuary chartered under U.S. leadership by 

 the International Whaling Commission, it provides safe harbor to some of the most 

 critically endangered marine mammals. The magnificent blue whale, believed to be 

 the largest creature ever alive, survives in the southern ocean today in relic num- 

 bers, dwindled to only several hundred individuals as a result of years of 

 overexploitation. From a conservation perspective, there is truly much at stake in 

 the Antarctic. 



During the last 35 years, however, pressures on the Antarctic environment have 

 increased dramatically. Countries have established increasing numbers of scientific 



■*In support of these efforts, since 1985 Greenpeace has carried out eight annual expeditions 

 to Antarctica to observe and document the impacts of human activities in the region, including 

 fisheries operations, tourist activities, and the activities of the national Antarctic stations. In 

 addition, from 1987 until 1992. Greenpeace operated the only year-round, nongovernmental base 

 in Antarctica. Reports from tne expeditions and base have been instrumental in heightening 

 public awareness of environmental problems in Antarctica. 



