take. Because of concerns expressed by the IWC Scientific 

 Committee and a number of contracting governments about the 

 design of the research program and the appearance of continuing 

 commercial whaling under the name of research, Iceland refrained 

 from issuing its special permit and the matter was again 

 considered at the 1986 IWC meeting. During that meeting, 

 similar concerns were again raised by some members of the 

 Scientific Committee and the IWC. In response, the IWC adopted 

 a resolution calling upon contracting governments to utilize 

 whale meat taken during research activities "primarily" for 

 local consumption. 



Despite these concerns, Iceland, having met the IWC's 

 minimal informational and procedural requirements, issued a 

 special permit for the research program and whaling began 

 after the 1986 IWC meeting. The United States subsequently 

 advised Iceland that it would consider actions to certify 

 Iceland under the above mentioned U.S. laws if it failed to 

 abide by provisions in the resolution adopted by the IWC at 

 the 1986 meeting. There was no evidence that whale meat 

 taken during the course of Iceland's research program was 

 utilized "primarily" (more than 50 percent) for other than local 

 purposes and no action was taken by the United States to 

 certify Iceland in 1986. 



As noted above, the IWC again reviewed the Icelandic 

 research program during its 1987 meeting. Consistent with the 

 Resolution on Scientific Research adopted at the meeting, the 

 IWC adopted a separate resolution on Iceland's research program, 

 requesting that Iceland revoke its special permit until 

 uncertainties identified in the report of the 1987 Scientific 

 Committee meeting had been resolved to the satisfaction of 

 the Committee. Under IWC rules of procedure, advice adopted 

 by the IWC in the form of resolutions are non-binding upon 

 members and, following the meeting, Iceland did not revoke 

 its special permit and Icelandic whalers resumed research 

 whaling. 



In view of actions by Iceland and its whalers after the 

 1987 IWC meeting, discussions were initiated between officials 

 of the United States and Iceland in July 1987 on Iceland's 

 research program and the possible imposition of sanctions 

 against Iceland under U.S. law. During the discussions, 

 there was a pause in the taking of whales by Icelandic whalers 

 and U.S. participants tried to secure Iceland's acceptance of 

 advice in the IWC's resolutions. 



To provide advice on developing an appropriate U.S. 

 position with respect to Iceland's research whaling, the 

 Marine Mammal Commission wrote to the Acting Secretary of 

 Commerce on 14 August 1987. In its letter, the Commission 

 expressed the view that, although IWC resolutions are 



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