effort as an index of whale abundance and (b) alternative 

 management procedures for establishing catch limits. The 

 three contract studies addressed the suitability of biochemical 

 genetic research techniques for identifying stock discreteness, 

 alternative whale censusing techniques, and mark-recapture tech- 

 niques for estimating stock abundance. 



A Joint Working Group of the Scientific and Technical 

 Committees met shortly before the 1987 IWC meeting to consider 

 progress and further work related to the comprehensive assess- 

 ment. Based on the Joint Working Group's recommendations, 

 the IWC approved the following further work: (1) use of the 

 Secretariat's computer facilities for testing management 

 procedures; (2) carrying forward studies on new biochemical 

 genetic research techniques to distinguish between whale 

 stocks; (3) continuing stock monitoring studies; (4) contracting 

 for an analysis of Southern Hemisphere minke whale marking 

 data; (5) convening a workshop to assess the utility of using 

 natural markings to estimate whale population parameters; and 

 (6) compiling information on the methods and hunting strategies 

 from whalers involved in the past exploitation of minke whales 

 in the North Atlantic. The IWC also agreed that priority 

 attention for the comprehensive assessment should be on those 

 stocks that were the object of substantial whaling activity 

 before the moratorium. 



Aboriginal/Subsistence Whaling — At its 1985 meeting, 

 the IWC adopted a three-year block quota for the Bering Sea 

 stock of bowhead whales allowing 26 strikes per year for the 

 years 1985 through 1987. The quota permitted strikes not 

 used in any one year to be carried forward to the next year 

 provided that no more than 32 whales are struck in any one 

 year. At its 1987 meeting, the IWC modified the last year of 

 its previous block quota by establishing a new catch limit of 

 32 strikes for 1987. In addition, a quota of 35 strikes was 

 set for 1988. 



Aboriginal catch limits for other stocks of whales were 

 set as follows for the 1988 aboriginal whaling seasons: 179 

 whales from the eastern North Pacific gray whale stock; 110 

 whales from the West Greenland minke whale stock; 10 whales 

 from the West Greenland fin whale stock; and 12 whales from 

 the central Atlantic minke whale stock. A quota of three 

 humpback whales per year was established for aboriginal whalers 

 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the 1987-1988, 1988- 

 1989, and 1989-1990 whaling seasons. 



Special Permits for Scientific Research — Article VIII 

 of the 1946 Whaling Convention provides that any member nation 

 may grant a special permit to its citizens to take whales for 

 purposes of scientific research and that any whales taken may 

 be processed and sold according to that contracting government's 



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