Scientific Committee during its meeting on 19-31 May 1986 and 

 the proposed work plan for the comprehensive assessment was 

 endorsed by the full Committee. 



The June 1986 Meeting of the IWC 



Membership and Participation — Representatives of 

 thirty-two of the Commission's forty-one member nations 

 participated in the Thirty-eighth Annual Meeting of the IWC, 

 which was held in Malmo, Sweden, on 6-13 June 1986. 



Moratorium on Commercial Whaling — As discussed in the 

 Marine Mammal Commission's previous Annual Reports, the IWC 

 adopted a new provision to its Schedule of regulations in 

 1982, which provides that catch limits for all commercial 

 whaling will be set at zero for the 1985/86 pelagic and 1986 

 coastal whaling seasons and thereafter. The new provision. 

 Schedule paragraph 10 (e) , also provides that, by 1990 at the 

 latest, the IWC will undertake a comprehensive assessment of 

 the effect of this decision on whale stocks and consider 

 modifying this provision and establishing catch limits other 

 than zero. No action was taken during the 1986 meeting to 

 amend or modify Schedule paragraph 10 (e) and, therefore, 

 pursuant to its provisions, catch limits for all stocks of 

 whales for the 1987 whaling seasons remained at zero for 

 purposes of commercial whaling. Catch limits for commercial 

 whaling will remain at zero unless and until a three-quarters 

 majority of the IWC members vote 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, 1946, 

 this action removes the obligation of their respective 

 governments to comply with the requirements of this prov- 

 ision. During 1986, all three nations exercised rights under 

 their objections to take whales commercially. The U.S. 

 response to these whaling activities is discussed below. 

 Consistent with the provisions of Schedule paragraph 10 (e) , 

 all other members refrained from commercial whaling in 1986. 



Aboriginal/Subsistence Whaling — At its meeting in 

 1985, the IWC adopted a three-year block quota for the Bering 

 Sea stock of bowhead whales of 26 strikes per year for the 

 years 1985 through 1987. The quota provides that strikes not 

 used in any one year may be used the following year as long 

 as no more than 32 whales are struck in any one year. No 

 action was required or taken during the 1986 meeting to 

 modify this quota. Similarly, no action was required or 

 taken to modify the 1986-1987 block quota of up to 220 minke 

 whales adopted by the IWC for the West Greenland stock during 

 its 1985 meeting. Aboriginal catch limits for other stocks 



36 



