Antarctic Treaty and Antarctic Treaty System

The Antarctic Treaty, which grew out of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58, is the cornerstone of the Antarctic Treaty System. It establishes the basis for

international cooperation in Antarctica, reserves use of the continent solely for peaceful purposes, and guarantees freedom of scientific research there. Twelve nations were the original signatories (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, U.K., the USSR and the U.S.). Twenty other nations have since acceded to the Antarctic Treaty. The Treaty makes provision for regular consultative meetings. Representatives of the original signatories participate in these meetings as well as representatives of those acceding nations which demonstrate their interest in Antarctica by the conduct of substantial scientific activity there. There are now eighteen Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties, with Brazil, Federal Republic of Germany, India, and Poland and, in 1985, China and Uruguay joining the original twelve. The fourteen acceding nations which are not Consultative Parties attend consultative meetings as observers. The Thirteenth Consultative Meeting was held in Belgium in October 1985.

The Antarctic Treaty System refers to the original Antarctic Treaty (1959) and a series of related arrangements established subsequently which have expanded the principles and purposes of the Treaty to new activities. The Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora resulted from the Third Consultative Meeting in 1964. The Agreed Measures established Specially Protected Areas" to preserve certain vulnerable and unique natural ecological systems and created extensive rules embodying conservation principles for the Treaty area. The Convention of the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972) was designed to prevent over harvesting of seals within the Treaty area including those found on the pack ice. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was concluded in 1980 and came into force in 1982. The Convention rests upon an innovative, ecosystem-wide approach to management of living resources in Antarctic waters, and provides the legal obligations and machinery to achieve its conservation objectives. Finally, elaboration of a regime for Antarctic minerals is the focus of continuing negotiations among the Treaty Parties.

The Antarctic Treaty System has continued to demonstrate its ability to evolve to meet new challenges and to address new interests. Not only were two new states welcomed as Consultative Parties in 1985, but renewed emphasis was placed on wider dissemination of information about Antarctica and the Treaty System.

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The past year was also an active one in the fields of Antarctic marine living resources and Antarctic mineral resources. The Commission and Scientific Committee established by CCAMLR held their fourth annual meeting at Commission headquarters in Hobart, Australia in September 1985. Commission took several steps to regulate fishing in Antarctic waters, particularly around the islands of South Georgia and Kerguelon. In addition, the Commission established firm guidelines and timetables for the collection and reporting of data on Antarctic finfish populations.

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The Consultative Parties continued work on the elaboration of a regime for Antarctic mineral resources. Negotiations opened in mid-1982 in Wellington, New Zealand. The regime would comprise an international system for determining the acceptability of possible mineral resource activities in Antarctica and for governing any such activities determined to be acceptable. Two meetings were convened in 1985, in Brazil and France, respectively. The next round is scheduled for early 1986 in Australia. Progress continued to be made on the many difficult issues surrounding the negotiations. The emphasis upon protection of the Antarctic environment, inherent elsewhere in the Treaty system, has also been a central element in the elaboration of an Antarctic minerals regime.

The Antarctic Treaty system provides the framework within which the United States and other nations interested in Antarctica approach the challenges and opportunities of human activity in Antarctica. The creative legal accommodation contained in the Antarctic Treaty, which permits cooperation between nations holding differing views over the political status of Antarctica, offers the basis for continued success in managing activities there, including resolution of difficult resource issues.

The Antarctic Treaty and other elements of the system have a strong science component. Not only does the Treaty trace its origin to a great scientific endeavor, the IGY, but much of the work of the consultative meetings involves arrangements to enhance scientific cooperation in the Treaty area, such as sharing meteorological data, collaboration in scientific expeditions, and facilitating exchange of scientific observations and results. Furthermore, baseline studies of the Antarctic environment to establish standards for assessing the impact of human activities will of necessity involve extensive scientific work.

The benefits which accrue to the United States through its active participation in the Antarctic Treaty system range from important contributions to the understanding of our planet made by research in Antarctica and sound management of resource activities to contributions to international peace and security deriving from preservation of Antarctica exclusively for peaceful purposes. As President Reagan underlined in a statement marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of its signature: The Antarctic Treaty incorporates and extends to the realm of international relations the spirit of practical cooperation which scientists working in Antarctica have displayed from the earliest explorations onward."

International Whaling Commission (IWC)

The United States became a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1948. The IWC is an organization comprised of members interested in managing whaling activities on a world-wide basis. The United States joined the IWC to reach the objective of proper conservation and management of whales. It is the responsibility of the IWC to make regulations to control whaling by member governments, which currently number forty-one.

The U.S. is a major and active participant in the IWC. During the 1960's and 1970's the number of whales in the world's oceans decreased substantially. Because of the increasing awareness of this problem, in 1972 the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment called for a strengthened IWC and a ten year moratorium on commercial whaling. Since that time, the U.S. and an increasing number of other members have advocated a halt to all commercial whaling to protect all whale species. In 1982, the IWC agreed that there should be a moratorium on all commercial whaling beginning in late 1985. The three year delay was designed to provide an adjustment or phase-out period for the nations engaged in commercial whaling. Catch limits were set at levels allowing continued whaling during the transition.

The overall objective of U.S. policy with respect to whaling is to ensure implementation of the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling. We are working to gain assurances that despite their objections to the moratorium decision, Japan, Norway and the U.S.S.R. will abide by the decision, along with all countries in the IWC, as it comes into effect.

On November 13, 1984 the United States entered into an exchange of letters with the Government of Japan which is designed to end Japanese commercial whaling by 1988. This arrangement regarding Japanese whaling, is designed to gain Japan's acceptance of catch limits and to obtain Japan's adherence to the moratorium. The arrangement, however, is jeopardized by a legal suit brought by environmental groups challenging the agreement. Japan will withdraw its objection to the IWC commercial whaling moratorium decision if the United States District Court's order in American Cetacean Society v. Baldrige, that the Secretary of Commerce certify Japan, is reversed. The United States Government is petitioning the Supreme Court to hear this case.

On April 1, 1985 the Secretary of Commerce certified the Soviet Union for whaling in excess of quotas established by the IWC for Southern Hemisphere minke whales during the 1984-85 season and their continued unreadiness to discuss the possibility of phasing out commercial whaling operations. As a result of certification, the Packwood-Magnuson Amendment requires that direct allocations to the Soviets for fishing in U.S. waters will be cut by at least 50% over the next 12 months. We have encouraged the Japanese to refrain from importing Soviet whale products taken contrary to the IWC conservation program. The President did not apply sanctions against the U.S.S.R. under the Pelly Amendment (which provides for the discretionary prohibition of U.S. importation of any or all fishery products) because these other steps had already been taken and an embargo against the importation of Soviet fish products would have a negligible effect on the Soviet Union.

Arctic Activities

Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX)

Increased civilian and military activity in the Arctic ice edge has made characterization and scientific understanding of the meteorology of the Marginal Ice Zone very important. Atmospheric forcing is a primary factor in interpretation of oceanographic, ice dynamic, and acoustic properties of the Marginal Ice Zone. The acoustic background, ice movements, and

upper ocean mixing and currents depend critically on atmospheric forcing. The scale of forcing which seems to be most important in this region of large horizontal gradients in thermal and roughness conditions is the mesoscale. The Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX) of 1984/85 provided the first intensive scientific meteorological mesoscale observations in a Marginal Ice Zone region and produced valuable meteorological, oceanographic, and acoustic data. The geographic area of the experiment was north and west of Spitsbergen in the Fram Strait. Groups from ten nations and up to seven ships and eight aircraft were involved. The Norwegian research vessels POLAR QUEEN and HAAKON MOSBY made meteorology measurements with Naval Postgraduate School investigators under ONR sponsorship.

Arctic Internal Wave Experiment (AIWEX)

In addition to MIZEX described above, an extremely critical data point was obtained in the Central Arctic that pins down the energy transfer processes occurring in the ocean. The ocean represents one of the major energy sources and sinks in the Earth's total energy budget because of its size and mass. AIWEX, because of its location (Central Arctic), represented a key data point to relate the transfer of energy from atmospheric winds to ocean waves. The coupling between the two was expected to be high in the open ocean but low in the Arctic because the ice cover shields the water below from the wind field. This was borne out by measurements. A quantitative value of the energy transfer process was also obtained.

Marine Pollution

In 1984-85 the U.S. played an active role in negotiations on the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Natural Resources and Marine Environment of the South Pacific Region. This Convention is being negotiated under the auspices of the Regional Seas Program of the United Nations Environment Program, The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, The South Pacific Commission and The South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation. It will provide an important regional response mechanism to deal with pollution damage or the threat thereof in the South Pacific. Four experts meetings were held in Noumea, New Caledonia during 1985.

The United States is an active participant in the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations concerned with maritime affairs. One of the Organization's responsibilities is the protection of the marine environment through prevention of both accidental and operational oil pollution from ships and assuring adequate compensation to victims thereof.

Toward this end, two international conventions (the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and 1971 Fund Convention), negotiated under the auspices of IMO, provide the international mechanisms for liability and compensation for oil pollution damage. The U.S. has been committed to seeking improvements in the standards of liability for pollution incidents and has not ratified these conventions primarily because of concerns that the liability limits are too low. For several years the IMO's Legal Committee worked on draft revisions that would substantially increase liability limits and update several other important aspects of these conventions which were considered by a Plenipotentiary Conference of IMO in May 1984.

The Conference adopted new liability limits very close to those proposed by the U.S. and adopted several other desirable changes from the environmental perspective. As a result, the U.S. is now in a favorable position to ratify both conventions, thus providing significant deterrents to oil pollution incidents and added new protection for the victims of oil pollution. Domestic implementing legislation for these conventions passed the House in 1984 with strong support from the Administration but failed to pass the Senate during the 98th Congress. Similar legislation, introduced in the 99th Congress has been reported favorably by the relevant Committees and is awaiting action by the full House.

The IMO Legal Committee is currently considering changes to the 1910 Salvage Convention that will provide for payment of compensation for actions taken to protect the marine environment even though there might not otherwise be entitlement to compensation under general salvage law.

In 1984-85 the United States worked actively to update its joint marine pollution contingency plans with its neighbors so that mechanisms will be in place to deal effectively with major spills of oil and hazardous substances.

Ocean Remote Sensing

The use of satellites for monitoring ocean phenomena is a relatively new field, begun by the SEASAT program. Several planned ocean observation satellites provide the opportunity to increase by many orders of magnitude the amount of data available in near-real-time on ocean waves and winds (speed and direction). The European Space Agency plans to launch ERS-1, its first ocean observation satellite, in 1989. It will carry a synthetic aperture radar along with a scatterometer and altimeter. The U.S. Navy plans to launch its Navy Remote Ocean Sensing Satellite, N-ROSS, in 1989 carrying similar instruments. By coordinating the missions, the oceanographic community will have access to millions of observations daily over the global oceans.

ESA's budget for the total ERS-1 program is approximately $550 million for building, launching, and operating. If the user community is prepared to utilize the volumes of data that will become available from N-ROSS and ERS-1, there will be significant improvements in weather forecasting over ocean areas, improvements in ship routing, increased safety for ocean vessels and offshore platforms, and contributions to our understanding of ocean phenomena. The future for coordinated global ocean observations from space is promising. The benefits are significantly enhanced by taking advantage of all available satellites and working internationally to improve ocean models and oceanographic research to the common benefit of the international community.

Ocean instrumentation and measurement achievements in 1985 include the completion of several at-sea experiments to gather data for acoustic scattering at the sea surface (including ice-covered), and for scattering and penetration of acoustic signals at the ocean bottom. The initial phase of a joint Navy-DARPA project to study geoacoustic signal propagation in the ocean bottom was completed.