reconunended to the IWC that any new catch limits be set with 

 caution. In view of this and other information on the take 

 of whales by Alaska Eskimos, the IWC adopted a three-year 

 block quota which modified its previous quota covering the 

 1985 bowhead whaling season and set new quotas for the 1986 

 and 1987 seasons. The new block quota provides that 26 

 whales may be struck in each of the three years and that 

 strikes not used in any one year may be used during the 

 following year. No more than 32 strikes, however, are to be 

 made in any one year. 



Eskimo Whaling 



In order to provide Alaska Eskimo whalers with 

 substantial opportunity and responsibility for regulation, 

 monitoring, and enforcement of the bowhead whale hunt, the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the 

 Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission signed a cooperative 

 agreement in 1981, recognizing each party's responsibility 

 for bowhead whale management. The agreement recognized the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's primary 

 responsibility for managing the bowhead whale stock while 

 also recognizing the responsibility of the Alaska Eskimo 

 Whaling Commission to allocate a mutually agreed quota among 

 Alaska's whaling villages and to monitor the hunt for 

 compliance with the regulations. The quotas set by the IWC 

 and the results of the Eskimo hunts since 1977 are shown in 

 the table below. 



Quotas and Catch of Bowhead Whales 

 By Alaska EbIcIbos, 1977-1987 



. In general, in establishing quotas on both the number 

 of whales landed and the number of strikes, the IWC 

 stipulated that whaling should cease whenever the 

 number of whales landed or the number of strikes 

 reached the specified number, whichever came first. 



.. In 1980, a block quota was set for the three years 

 1981 to 1983, with a further stipulation that, in any 

 one year, the number landed should not exceed 17 and 

 the number of strikes should not exceed 27. 



... In 1983, a block quota was set on strikes alone for 

 1984 and 1985, with the further stipulation that the 

 number of strikes in any year may not exceed 27. 



«.»• In 1985, a block quota of 26 strikes per year was set for 

 the three years 1985 to 1987, with the stipulation that 

 strikes not used in any one year may be used the following 

 year, provided that no more than 32 strikes occur in any 

 one year. 



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