In the Southern Ocean, fishing for finfish began in 1969/70 and for krill in 1972/73. The Soviet Union was the most important fishing nation, taking 80–90% of the entire catch. More than 3 million tonnes of finfish wereharvested prior to 1992/93, most of the catch coming from around South Georgia and lies Kerguelen. After 15 years of exploitation, most fish stocks were heavily depleted. The krill catch from the Southern Ocean has been 4.9 million tonnes to date. More than 90% of this catch has originated from the Atlantic sector. 50–90% is taken from the foraging range of land-based predators during the critical period of their breeding cycle when they raise their young. This creates the potential for direct competition between krill fisheries and krill-dependent predators. Potential impacts of krill and finfishing on the ecosystems of the Southern Ocean range from endangering recruitment due to the by-catch of juvenile fish in the krill fishery to incidental mortality of birds during longline operations and the entanglement of seals in fragments of discarded or lost fishing gear.

Most fish stocks had already been over-exploited before the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) came into force in 1982. Stringent conservation measures to halt the further decline of the stocks have been implemented only since 1989. There is evidence that some fish stocks have started to recover recently. Precautionary catch limits for krill of 1.5 million tonnes for the Atlantic sector (Statistical Area 48), and of 390, 000 tonnes for Statistical Division 58. 4.2 in the Indian sector, were set in 1991 and 1992, respectively. CCAMLR has implemented a number of conservation measures to safeguard other components of the marine ecosystems from fishing. CCAMLR adopted a system of inspection in 1989/90 and a scheme of international scientific observation in 1992. It is too early to judge the efficacy of these enforcement and data-gathering programmes.

There is a growing recognition in CCAMLR of the need for preventati ve measures in circumstances of biological uncertainty. The development of multi-species management models appears to be remote at present. The way forward is likely to be a single-species model for the krill fishery, which needs to take implicit account of the demands of natural predators, particularly at small scales. If demersal fish stocks are able to recover to their maximum sustainable yield level, the fishery potential of the Southern Ocean is likely to be much larger than current catches. The fishery potential of krill and mesopelagic lanternfish is likely to exceed that of demersal fish stocks by an order of magnitude. By contrast with the 1970s and 1980s, when most fisheries were subsidized, economic considerations and market demands will be the primary determinants of the development of fishing in southern waters during the 1990s.

After its rejection of the Minerals Convention adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs) in 1988, Australia took a major step in its domestic law by enacting the Antarctic Mining Prohibition Act of 1991 (AMPA), to reinforce its general objection to mineral resource activities in Antarctica and its commitment to the protection ofthe Antarctic environment. With the adoption of the Protocol on Environmental Protectionto the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol) – which required the parties to take steps to implement its provisions, including the enactment of domestic legislation – Australia enacted the Antarctic Treaty (Environmental Protection) Act (ATEPA). The ATEPA is meant to replace the AMPA once the Madrid Protocol comes into force. The Protocol bans mineral resource activities in Antarctica and adopts a comprehensive regime toregulate all human activity in Antarctica in an effort to protect the region's environment. As legislation to implement the Protocol, the principal objectives of the ATEPAare to prohibit mineral resource activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory and toregulate all human activity that may have a direct impact on the environment in the area. It also prohibits Australian nationals from engaging in mineral resource activities elsewhere in Antarctica. Like Australia, a number of ATCPs have either adopted legislationor are developing legislation in their domestic legal systems to implement the Protocol.It is one thing for the Protocol to demand the adoption of domestic legislation to ensure compliance with its provisions, including the ban on mining; it is quite another thingto develop effective domestic legislation on the issue. Given the absence of any knowncommercially exploitable deposits of minerals in Antarctica, the likelihood of any mineralresource activity in the region is very remote. But should mining activity occur in Antarctica in breach of the Protocol, the enforcement of the ban could be fraught with practical, legal, and policy difficulties. This paper examines the domestic legislative efforts by Australia as a leading ATCP to ban mining activity in Antarctica. Even though the discussion focuses on Australia by examining its legislation, the problems and the issues raised in the Australian context are also relevant to other ATCPs generally and to claimants in particular.

Concentration levels of various organochlorine pesticides and their derivatives — namely, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH) and the DDT compounds pp'-DDT, op'-DDT, pp'-DDE, op'-DDE, pp'-DDD, and op'-DDD — were determined in the sediments from eight different lakes of the Schirmacher Oasis, near Dakshin Gangotri, the Indian station (70° 45'S, 11° 44'E) during the Sixth Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica (December 1986 to February 1987). Concentration levels of HCHs (α, β, γ)and t-DDT (pp'-DDT + op'-DDT + pp'-DDE + op'-DDE + pp'-DDD + op'-DDD) in sediments of these lakes were found to be in the ranges of 37.7–155 pg/gand 512.9–1131 pg/g, respectively. Among the isomers of HCH, gamma-HCH was most prominent, followed by alpha-HCH, whereas in the case of metabolites of DDT and its isomers, pp'-DDT was found to be dominant over others. However, all the other compounds of the DDT family were present in considerable amounts in all the lakes. There was no significant change in the monthly variation of the concentration levels of HCHs and DDTs in the lakes.

The period 1877–1878 was one of tension between Britain and Russia caused by the Russo-Turkish War and the consequent threat to the route to India. The Royal Navy was deployed to deter the Russians in seas adjacent to the Balkans, but also undertook intelligence gathering missions further afield. Two of these were to Petropavlovsk in sub-Arctic Kamchatka and were undertaken by Commander A.L. Douglas in HMS Egeria. The British, with their French allies, had sustained a serious defeat there during the Crimean War and wished to ascertain the state of Russian defences should there be fresh hostilities. In the event, Douglas discovered that the Russians had abandoned Petropavlovsk as a fortified post and that there was no garrison. His reports were, therefore, negative, but included interesting information concerning Petropavlovsk in this era.