ABSTRACT
The history of the exploitation of the living resources of the
Southern Ocean has led to the severe depletion of the stocks
of fur seals, many of the whale species, and some of the fish
stocks. Although the stocks of the fur seals have made a
remarkable recovery, the extent to which the exploited whale
and fish stocks will recover is uncertain. It is unlikely that the
seal stocks will be exploited in the foreseeable future and
currently a moratorium is in effect on the further harvesting
of whales. However, exploitation of both fish and krill
continue. The fish resources are not large and their exploita-
tion will need to be strictly controlled and limited. Although
the krill catches have exceeded 500,000 tons on only one
occasion, the potential for considerable expansion could
have serious consequences for the Southern Ocean marine
ecosystem as a whole.
