Based on a request from the NAMMCO Council, the Scientific Committee provided assessment advice on the harp seals in the White Sea, the Barents Sea, and the Greenland Sea. The advice is based on the work of the Joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Harp and Hooded Seals. (This joint project is a good example of NAMMCO working together with other organizations). The assessment was based on stock identity, distribution and migration and on catch data and abundance estimates. Catch options for the two stocks were developed using a model that calculates a constant exploitation rate that will stabilize the total population at or slightly below its current level (NAMMCO Annual Report, 1999). Based on the Scientific Committee recommendations on stock status and catch options, the Management Committee concluded that the catch level for 1998 was well below the calculated replacement yield. The Management Committee also noted that catches at the same level in the future might result in population increase. From a resource management perspective, future quota levels approaching the replacement yield were advised (NAMMCO Annual Report 1999). The Norwegian catches of the harp seals, in particular, are well below the quota levels (the total quota for harp seals for 1999 was 22,500 while the total catch was only 1,362 animals). The Management Committee recommends that the catches approach the quota levels. One obvious concern here is, from a multispecies interaction perspective, that the high number of seals prey on fish targeted by the fisheries.

In conclusion, I will point out that in a regional and intergovernmental organization, such as the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, sustainable use must be seen in the light of the common interest in a region and in its resources, combined with the need to address the socio-economic and cultural variations between the member countries. Thus, the approach to sustainable use must take into account two separate but interconnected factors:

• scientific studies – for determining sustainability of a species or stock. This is an important factor shared by all the member countries;

• the socio-economic cultural and political contexts in which management decisions are made (recall that NAMMCO does not make management decisions only recommendations). This is allow for cultural, political and economic diversity to be considered..