ARTICLE 13-ENTRY INTO FORCE

(1) This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the seventh instrument of ratification, or acceptance. (2) Thereafter this Convention shall enter into force for each ratifying, accepting or acceding State on the thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession.

ARTICLE 14-WITHDRAWAL

Any Contracting Party may withdraw from this Convention on 30 June of any year by giving notice on or before 1 January of the same year to the Depositary, which upon receipt of such a notice shall at once communicate it to the other Contracting Parties. Any other Contracting Party may, in like manner, within one month of the receipt of a copy of such a notice from the Depositary, give notice of withdrawal, so that the Convention shall cease to be in force on 30 June of the same year with respect to the Contracting Party giving such notice.

ARTICLE 15-NOTIFICATIONS BY THE DEPOSITARY

The Depositary shall notify all signatory and acceding States of the following:

(a) Signatures of this Convention, the deposit of instruments of ratification, acceptance or accession and notices of withdrawal;

(b) The date of entry into force of this Convention and of any amendments to it or its Annex.

ARTICLE 16-CERTIFIED COPIES AND REGISTRATION

() This Convention, done in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which shall transmit duly certified copies thereof to all signatory and acceding States.

(2) This Convention shall be registered by the Depositary pursuant to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

In witness whereof, the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed this Convention. 19_-.

Done at

this

day of

ANNEX

1. Permissible Catch

The Contracting Parties shall in any one year, which shall run from 1 July to 30 June inclusive, restrict the total number of seals of each species killed or captured to the numbers specified below. These numbers are subject to review in the light of scientific assessments.

(a) In the case of Crabeater seals Lobodon carcinophagus 175,000 (b) In the case of Leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx 12,000

(c) In the case of Weddell seals Leptonychotes weddelli, 5,000

2. Protected Species

(a) It is forbidden to kill or capture Ross seals Ommatophoca rossi, Southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina, or fur seals of the genus Arctocephalus.

(b) In order to protect the adult breeding stock during the period when it is most concentrated and vulnerable, it is forbidden to kill or capture any Weddell seal Leptonychotes weddelli one year old or older between 1 September and 31 January inclusive.

3. Closed Season and Sealing Season

The period between 1 March and 31 August inclusive is a Closed Season, during which the killing or capturing of seals is forbidden. The period 1 September to the last day in February constitutes a Sealing Season.

4. Sealing Zones

Each of the sealing zones listed in this paragraph shall be closed in numerical sequence to all sealing operations for the seal species listed in paragraph 1 of this Annex for the period 1 September to the last day of February inclusive.

Such closures shall begin with the same zone as is closed under paragraph 2 of Annex B to Annex 1 of the Report of the Fifth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting at the moment the Convention enters into force. Upon the expiration of each closed period, the affected shall reopen.

Zone 1-between 60° and 120° West Longitude.

Zone 2-between 0° and 60° West Longitude, together with that part of the Weddell Sea lying westward of 60° West Longitude.

Zone 3-between 0° and 70° East Longitude.

Zone 4-between 70° and 130° East Longitude.

Zone 5 between 130° East Longitude and 170° West Longitude.

Zone 6 between 120° and 170° West Longitude.

5. Seal Reserves

It is forbidden to kill or capture seals in the following reserves, which are seal breeding areas or the site of long-term scientific research:

(a) The area around the South Orkney Islands between 60°20′ and 60°56′ South Latitude and 44°05′ and 46°25′ West Longitude.

(b) The area of the southwestern Ross Sea south of 76° South Latitude and west of 170° East Longitude.

(c) The area of Edisto Inlet south and west of a line drawn between Cape Hallet at 72°19' South Latitude, 170°18′ East Longitude, and Helm Point, at 72°11′ South Latitude, 170°00′ East Longitude.

6. Exchange of Information

(a) Contracting Parties shall provide before 31 October each year together Contracting Parties and to SCAR a summary of statistical information on all seals killed or captured by their nationals and vessels under their respective flags in the Convention area, in respect of the preceding period 1 July to 30 June. This information shall include by zones and months:

(i) The gross and net tonnage, brake horse-power, number of crew, and number of days' operation of vessels under the flag of the Contracting Party;

(ii) The number of adult individuals and pups of each species taken. When specifically requested, this information shall be provided in respect of each ship, together with its deil position at noon each operating day and the catch on that day.

(b) When an industry has started, reports of the number of seals of each species killed or captured in each zone shall be made to SCAR in the form and at the intervals (net shorter than one week) requested by that body. (c) Contracting Parties shall provide to SCAP biological information concerning in particular

(i) Sex;

(ii) Reproductive condition;

(iii) Age.

SCAR may request additional information or material with the approval of the Contracting Parties.

(d) Contracting Parties shall provide to other Contracting Parties and to SCAR at least 30 days in advance of departure from their home ports, information on proposed sealing expeditions.

7. Sealing Methods

(a) SCAR is invited to report on methods of sealing and to make recommendations as with a view to insuring that the killing or capturing of seals is quick, painless and efficient. Contracting Parties, as appropriate, shall adopt rules for their nationals and vessels under their respective flags engaged in the killing and capturing of seals, giving due consideration to the views of SCAR. (b) In the light of the available scientific and technical data, Contracting Parties agree to take appropriate steps to ensure that their nationals and vessels under their respective flags refrain from killing or capturing seals in the water, except in conformity with the objectives and principles of this Convention. Such research shall include studies as to the effectiveness of methods of sealing from the viewpoint of the management and humane and rational utilization of the Antarctic seal resources for a conservation purposes. The undertaking and the results of any such scientific research programme shall be communicated to SCAR and the Depositary which shall transmit them to the Contracting Parties.

76-491 O 72 pt. 1 28

Senator HOLLINGS. Mr. Pollock.

STATEMENT OF HON. HOWARD W. POLLOCK, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; ACCOMPANIED BY WALTER KIRKNESS, ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE; AND JAMES W. BRENNAN, DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL, NOAA

Mr. POLLOCK. Thank you.

Senator HOLLINGS. The Chair recognizes you as one who has almost been down to live with the the sea mammals. As an ocean expert in your own right, we welcome what you have to say. If there is any difference between your ideas and the Department's ideas, I wish you would tell me, so you can live with this statement.

Mr. POLLOCK. I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I am very pleased to be here. For the record, I am Howard W. Pollock, Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmoshperic Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the marine mammal question, one which I think is of interest to all of us.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, the Secretary of Commerce, acting through NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is charged with the responsibility for the advancement, management, conservation and protection of all marine mammals of U.S. concern, except walrus, sea otter, polar bear and sirenia, which are the manatees and the dugongs.

We believe that the conservation and protection of any living resource requires a thorough knowledge of all the factors affecting that resource. We must act on the basis of facts in order to assure, to the maximum extent possible, that the course we are taking is, in truth, the best one. In order to obtain the necessary data and then carrry out a meaningful conservation program, certain basic procedures must be followed, regardless of the specific issue or resources involved. First of all, for example, a good inventory of the population stocks of all marine mammal species must be obtained in much the same manner as we have done for the fur seals. This must be coupled with an understanding of the animal's total ecosystem including such things as species interactions and environmental factors. In other words, any conservation program for a particular species must not only include studies of that species, but also other organisms which interact with that species in the marine environment, and indeed the environment itself. All sources of information and expertise must be available to those responsible for the conservation and protection of the resource. Such sources of information would include all agencies within the Federal Government, all appropriate State and local governments and agencies, and any informed private citizens or other entities. Once the required data are obtained, a more comprehensive conservation and protection program based on that data can be developed as has been done with the fur seals.

Mr. Chairman, as you very well know, during the past several years, public attention throughout the United States has been drawn in a

dramatic fashion to the problem of the conservation of marine mammals. In particular, strong public concern has been voiced with respect to the preservation of those marine mammals which appear to be threatened with extinction. and the question of the use of proper techniques for harvesting commercially utilized species. We of the NOAA want to assure the committee that we share each of these concerns and are deeply committed to the conservation and management of marine mammals.

We would like to briefly examine our activities to date on behalf of marine mammals so as to dispel some of this misunderstandings surrounding this subject.

NOAA is responsible under the Fur Seal Act of 1966 for management of the northern Pacific fur seal harvest carried out on the Pribilof Islands off the coast of Alaska. This program has been one of the most successful international conservation efforts ever mounted. First, it has saved the fur seal from the threat of extinction. Prior to the inauguration of this program in 1911, these animals were hunted indiscriminately on the high seas without regard to sex, age, or season of the year, with the result that their numbers had dwindled to a mere 200,000. Today, under strict controls, the fur seal population has risen to approximately 1,200,000 animals. While this number now approaches the estimated optimum size of the herd, a new factor has been introduced into the Bering Sea environment. Foreign fishermen now compete with the seals for the populations of fish resources that form a prime portion of the seals' food supply. This problem supports the need for a total ecosystems study which we feel is quite necessary.

The belief that the present population has declined substantially frrom its size in the 1930's and 1940's, Mr. Chairman, is erroneous. An analysis of the methods used by the government in estimating the population figures for those years shows that the published estimates were much too high and did not reflect the actual situation.

The earliest estimates of fur seal numbers were made during the period 1912-24 by direct pup counts, counts of mature males and the kill of bachelor males. Scientists developed an estimate of an 8 percent annual increase in population size. This estimate was developed while the herd size was small and rebuilding rapidly from near extinction. From 1924-47, no direct pup counts were made because the increased size of the herd, and increased number of pups, made it extremely difficult to conduct a reliable count. Only counts of mature males and harvested males were made.

The Government continued, however, to use the same 8 percent annual increase in population size developed during the 1912-24 period. It was on the basis of the 8 percent annual increase that the population in the 1940's was estimated to be about 4 million animals. In reality, it was later determined that the 8 percent figure was erroneous because the net rate of increase in the seal population slowed as the herd grew larger, due to reductions in the reproduction and survival rates. This is not unusual, Mr. Chairman. This is typical of any rebuilding population as the stock reaches the maximum figure which its habitat will support.

The best estimate of the seal population during its peak in the late 1940's has been determined to be slightly under 2 million, rather

than 4 or 5 million seals. A discussion of this subject appears in a paper written in 1954 by Kenyon, Scheffer, and Chapman, entitled "A Population Study of the Alaska Fur Seal Herd."

In the late 1950's, the scientists of all four treaty nations agreed that the population level at that time was higher than necessary for maximum sustained yield and recommended that it should be reduced through a planned harvest of females. This plan was carried out. The present seal population now approaches what we consider to be the optimal level.

By limiting the fur seal harvest to Government-controlled taking on land, we have avoided many of the practices which are presently concerning the public. In contrast to the activities of the seal hunters of other countries operating on the ice between Labrador and Greenland, no baby seals are taken on the Pribilof Islands. Instead, for the most part, 2- to 4-year old bachelor males are harvested, which are surplus to the breeding requirements of the herds.

There has been much comment concerning the present harvesting method. Alternative means have been tested by both governmental and nongovernmental scientists, using the most sophisticated investigative techniques to determine the most esthetically acceptable and painless way of accomplishing instantaneous loss of consciousness. To date, no better method has been found than the one currently in use. This conclusion has been fully supported by an on-site investigation by a panel of distinguished veterinarians headed by Dr. C. Roger Smith, Professor of Research, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Ohio State University. Their report, which was submitted to the Secretary of Commerce is herewith submitted to the committee. Mr. Chairman, I would like to have it made part of the record, if there is no objection.

SENATOR HOLLINGS. Without objection, it will be included.
SENATOR STEVENS. Has that previously been released?

MR. POLLOCK. Yes, it has, Senator Stevens. This is dated August 4, 1971, but I felt it would be important to this part of the hearing. Now, Mr. Chairman, turning to another marine mammal, the whale, the Department of Commerce has taken vigorous action. As the committee knows, the Department of Interior found that eight species of whales met the criteria specified in the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969, and placed those species on the Endangered Species List. Three of them, the finback, the sei, and the sperm whale, are the only species which continue to have commercial importance.

Although the existing Endangered Species Act speaks only to imports of products and, therefor, does not prohibit the activities of American citizens on the high seas, the Secretary of Commerce believed it to be the intent of Congress that the United Statse should adopt a position of leadership to protect those species which are endangered. Accordingly, the Secretary of Commerce, by regulation, announced that no licenses would be issued for any American to take any species of whale on the Endangered Species List after December 31, 1971, and today there is no longer any U.S. commercial harvest of these marine mammals.

I will come back to the discussion of the Endangered Species Act in a moment.