ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the past, present and anticipated human activities associated with resource exploitation in Antarctica, together with their environmental impacts. The past exploitation of marine living resources is important in understanding the nature of the environmental debate about Antarctic resources. The geographical impacts have been felt most in the more biologically productive areas such as the Scotia Sea. Against this background, the early years of CCAMLR were not encouraging, particularly as many stocks of finfish were already overfished before the convention came into force. Whether CCAMLR can ultimately prevent a repeat of the 'tragedy of the commons' in the case of the krill fishery remains to be seen Scientific knowledge of the Southern Ocean ecosystem is improving, as are modelling techniques for fisheries management. There is now increased public awareness of environmental issues as a result of politically influential campaigning by NGOs. The threat of such sanctions may be the only guarantee ultimately of ensuring enforcement of conservation measures.
