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| Interim Guidelines for the Voluntary Regulation of Antarctic Pelagic Sealing |
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Recognizing that the seal stocks south of 60° South Latitude are a resource of potential value which at some future date may require a binding international agreement for its effective regulation;
Recognizing that this resource should not be depleted by over-exploitation, and hence that any harvesting should be regulated at or below the level of the maximum sustainable yield;
Recognizing that in order to improve scientific knowledge and so place exploitation on a rational basis, every effort should be made both to encourage biological research on these seal populations and to gain information from the statistics of future sealing operations;
Desiring to promote and achieve the objectives of protection, scientific study and rational use of Antarctic seals; The Representatives recommend to their Governments that in accordance with Recommendation III-11 each Government should voluntarily take account of the following Interim Guide Lines for the Voluntary Regulation of Antarctic Pelagic Sealing:
1. The total number of seals of each species taken in the area south of 60° South Latitude should not exceed the maximum sustainable yield of that species.
2. The maximum sustainable yield of each species in the area south of 60° South Latitude should be regarded as the number of each species specified in Annex A.
3. If the number of seals taken in any locality in any year is such as to disturb the natural ecological system in that locality, no seals should be taken therein until the balance of that system has been restored and in any case until one year has elapsed.
4. A seal should not be killed or taken when it is in the water.
5. The Ross Seal (Ommataphoca rossii) should not be killed or taken except for scientific purposes.
6. For the purposes of these Interim Guide Lines, the area south of 60° South Latitude should be divided into the zones set out in Annex B. Seals should be killed or taken only in alternating zones and alternating periods, as set out in Annex B.
7. Each Government should provide the other Contracting Governments before 31 October of each year with the following information relating to the preceding period of 1 July to 30 June: (a) the number, for each species, of adult males, of adult females, of pregnant females, and of pups killed or taken; and (b) the locations where these seals were killed or taken.
8. At the same time, each Government should provide to the other Contracting Governments information on any steps it has taken in accordance with these Interim Guide Lines.
9. When it appears to any Consultative Party that the harvest of any species of seal in the area south of 60° South Latitude is approaching the maximum sustainable yield therein, or in any locality is disturbing the ecological system therein, that party may propose through diplomatic channels that a Consultative Meeting be convened under Article IX of the Antarctic Treaty. If all Consultative Parties so agree, such a Meeting shall be convened as soon as possible to consider the situation and the steps it may be necessary to take.
ANNEX A Maximum sustainable yield (omitted)
ANNEX B Sealing Zones (omitted)
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MTD |
3601 |
Status |