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In the NAMMCO Agreement preamble, it is stated that the Parties recall "the general principles of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources as reflected in the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development". It further states that the Parties are "Convinced that regional bodies in the North Atlantic can ensure effective conservation, sustainable marine resource utilization and development with due regard to the needs of coastal communities and indigenous people". Thus, NAMMCO considers both the role of marine mammals in the ecosystem and the sustainable use of these resources. This means that NAMMCO recognizes marine mammals as a renewable resource that can be utilized in a sustainable manner, and that human society is a dimension that is considered an important part of the equation. The sustainability of one species must be considered in concurrence with the ecosystem in which it lives. This includes human communities, in particular where humans in some ways actively utilize and are dependent upon renewable resources for their livelihood. And it applies to the coastal communities of the NAMMCO countries who harvest more than one species from their marine ecosystem. It is the NAMMCO member countries’ position that species interaction within an environment is an appropriate focus. However, a multispecies approach poses significant scientific challenges. It is therefore necessary to first research individual species, while keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is knowledge and understanding on the multispecies and ecosystem levels. Sustainable use of renewable resources and the sustainability of human society are closely linked. People are simultaneously part of the ecosystem and dependent upon it. By bringing community interests into the formula resource conservation is more likely to be ensured. Human communities dependent upon natural renewable resources would want these to remain accessible for generations to come. That this is, to a degree, the case is reflected in the various management schemes found among different countries and among different cultural groups. Such management schemes may be based on western scientific knowledge or on customary practices with deep prehistoric roots. What they share is that they contain some form of provisions or sanctions to prevent unsustainable use of the resources. When adhered to, these provisions or sanctions are instrumental in conserving the species or the ecosystem itself. The level of dependency and utilization of the resources varies greatly between the NAMMCO countries. Greenland, for example, is more economically and socially dependent upon marine mammal harvesting, than Iceland. For each case, one necessary step is to determine the level at which a species is sustainably harvested. Another would be to examine the connections between the sustainable use of marine mammals and the viability of coastal and indigenous communities. The answer to the first point can only be found through careful studies of for example marine mammal abundance and their migratory patterns, and the NAMMCO Scientific Committee is engaged in answering these questions and has developed estimates for several populations. In terms of the latter issue, the problem is more complicated. There is not a clear-cut relationship between the socio-economic status of a community, the utilization of marine mammals and the sustainability of these resources. Most communities rely on more than one source of income and the utilization of marine mammals is one of them. It is nevertheless useful to know the level at which a resource can be used sustainably and factor that into the analysis of the socio-economy of the community in question. |
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