Moratorium on Commercial Whaling — In 1982, the IWC 

 adopted a new provision, paragraph 10 (e) , to its Schedule of 

 regulations. The provision established catch limits for all 

 commercial whaling at zero, beginning with the 1985/1986 

 pelagic and 1986 coastal whaling seasons, and provided that, 

 by 1990 at the latest, the IWC would undertake a comprehensive 

 assessment of the effect of this decision on whale stocks and 

 consider modifying the provision and establishing catch limits 

 other than zero. No action was taken during the 1987 meeting 

 to change this provision and, therefore, catch limits for 

 commercial whaling remained at zero for all stocks of whales 

 during the 1987-1988 whaling seasons. Catch limits for commer- 

 cial whaling will continue to be set at zero unless and until 

 a three-quarters majority of the IWC's membership votes to 

 modify Schedule paragraph 10 (e) . 



Three nations (Japan, Norway, and the Soviet Union) 

 maintain objections to Schedule paragraph 10 (e) . Under the 

 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling of 

 1946, this action removes the obligation of their respective 

 governments to comply with the requirements of this provision. 

 During 1987, all three nations exercised their rights under 

 the Convention to allow whales to be taken commercially by 

 their nationals. 



Notwithstanding any take of whales during permitted 

 scientific research (see below) , all three nations have ex- 

 pressed plans to suspend commercial whaling activity before 

 the end of 1988. At the 1985 IWC meeting, the Soviet Union 

 announced its intention to suspend commercial whaling after 

 the 1986-1987 Antarctic minke whaling season for technical 

 reasons. As of the end of 1987, no Soviet ships were engaged 

 in commercial whaling. As noted in the previous Annual Report, 

 pursuant to a 1984 agreement between the United States and 

 Japan, the Government of Japan submitted a prospective with- 

 drawal of its objection to paragraph 10 (e) in July 1986. 

 The withdrawal is to take effect on or before 1 April 1988, 

 after which time Japan will be obligated to comply with the 

 moratorium provision. The Government of Norway has expressed 

 its intent to suspend commercial whaling after the 1987 whaling 

 season, but it has not indicated whether it will withdraw its 

 objection to the IWC moratorium provision and, if so, when. 



Comprehensive Assessment — During a meeting of the IWC 

 Scientific Committee in April 1986, a work plan and timetable 

 were developed for conducting the comprehensive assessment 

 required under Schedule paragraph 10 (e) . They were approved 

 by the IWC at its meeting in 1986 and, according to its pro- 

 visions, two workshops and three contract reviews were carried 

 out or initiated between the 1986 and 1987 IWC meetings. The 

 workshops were held in Reykjavik, Iceland, in March 1987 and 

 addressed (a) the utility of using data on catch per unit of 



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