the National Marine Mammal Laboratory continue its 

 past practice of convening annual meetings to 

 review and coordinate bowhead whale research 

 supported by Federal agencies, State agencies, 

 Native organizations, and industry groups by 

 convening such a meeting as early as possible in 

 1986; 



money be provided to the National Marine Mammal 

 Laboratory to sustain efforts to better determine 

 the net recruitment rate for the Bering Sea bowhead 

 whale population as recommended by the IWC's 

 Scientific Committee; and 



the U.S. continue its support for development and 

 use of the most humane killing techniques for the 

 taking of bowhead whales for subsistence purposes. 



Following the 1985 meeting of the IWC, the Marine 

 Research Institute of Reykjavik, Iceland, sent to members of 

 the IWC Scientific Committee a draft outline and research 

 budget for a proposed whale research program to be carried 

 out in 1986-1989. Some of the proposed studies involved an 

 experimental take of whales in order to extend catch per unit 

 of effort data. The proposal called for a catch of 80 fin 

 whales, 40 sei whales, and 80 minke whales during each year 

 of the research program, a catch equal to about half of 

 Iceland's commercial catch levels in recent years. Other 

 proposed studies did not depend on data from the experimental 

 catch. By letter of 6 December 1985, the U.S. Commissioner 

 asked the Marine Mammal Commission to review the described 

 research for scientific merit to assist the U.S. in evaluat- 

 ing it in light of other policy considerations. 



On 7 March 1986, the Commission sent the results of its 

 review to the U.S. Commissioner. With respect to the 

 proposed studies involving the experimental catch, the 

 Commission noted that: collected samples and data would be 

 similar to those collected during the past decade or more of 

 commercial whaling; past samples and data had not yet been 

 completely analyzed; and, from the information provided in 

 the research outline, it was questionable whether additional 

 data collected from the proposed experimental catch would 

 significantly improve understanding of the subject whale 

 stocks beyond that which should already be possible through 

 analysis of existing data and samples. The Commission noted 

 that the proposed research program had been developed without 

 first analyzing available data to determine precisely what 

 additional data are needed and how they should be collected, 

 analyzed, and archived. In short, the plan was not developed 

 in accordance with generally accepted scientific procedure. 



34 



