Introduction

The origins of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (“CCAMLR”) can be traced back to the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in 1959, came into force in June 1961 and established the legal framework for dealing with a wide variety of issues involving Antarctica. The Antarctic Treaty applies to the entire area south of 60° South latitude except for the high seas and is a kind of self-denying ordinance under which the twelve “Consultative Parties” agreed to use Antarctica for peaceful purposes only, to prohibit the disposal of nuclear waste there, to freeze the legal status quo with respect to territorial claims and to promote free scientific research in the continent. The twelve Consultative Parties are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, U.K., U.S.A., and U.S.S.R. They have since been joined by Brazil, Poland, the Federal Republic of Germany and India.

The Antarctic Treaty does not address the exploitation, ownership or management of living or non-living resources, although it does authorise the Consultative Parties to recommend measures with respect to the “preservation and conservation of living resources in Antarctica”. Pursuant to this authority, the Consultative Parties adopted several conservation measures in the early 1960s, and when Japan and the U.S.S.R. began fishing for krill (Euphausia superba) in the late 1960s and early 1970s the Consultative Parties decided to take it upon themselves to develop a legal regime to control the emerging fishery.