certified to the President under provision of the Packwood- 

 Magnuson and the Pelly Amendments that citizens of the Soviet 

 Union were conducting fishing operations in a manner that 

 diminished the effectiveness of the IWC conservation program. 

 At the 1985 IWC meeting, the Soviet Union announced that it 

 intended to suspend commercial whaling for technical reasons 

 beginning with the 1987-1988 whaling season. However, its 

 nationals continued to take whales commercially from the 

 Antarctic Ocean in the 1986-1987 season despite the imposition 

 of the moratorium provision under paragraph 10 (e) of the IWC 

 Schedule of regulations. 



As the Soviet Union had indicated in 1985, its citizens 

 took no whales during the 1987-1988 Southern Hemisphere minke 

 whaling season. Therefore, in view of its suspension of 

 commercial whaling activity and its announced intention to 

 comply with standards substantially eguivalent to those of 

 the IWC, the Secretary notified the President on 14 April 

 1988 that he was terminating his certification of the Soviet 

 Union under both the Packwood-Magnuson and Pelly Amendments. 



Bowhead Whales — At its 1987 meeting, the IWC adopted 

 an aboriginal/subsistence quota of 35 strikes for the Bering 

 Sea stock of bowhead whales in the 1988 whaling seasons. 

 This quota is allocated to Alaska Eskimos who take bowhead 

 whales each year for cultural and subsistence purposes. As 

 part of efforts to prepare a U.S. position on future quotas 

 for this stock for the 1988 IWC meeting, the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Administration made available early in April 

 1988 a document entitled "Administrator's Initial Views on 

 Bowhead Whale Information." The document analyzed potential 

 recruitment rates for the Alaska bowhead whale population and 

 cited information from a new draft contract report prepared 

 for the Department of the Interior on Alaska Eskimo subsistence 

 needs. The analysis of recruitment rates was based on a 

 population estimate for the Bering Sea stock of bowhead whales 

 accepted by the IWC (7,200 whales with a standard error of 

 2,400), and it concluded that annual recruitment may range from 

 55 to 173 whales for a population estimate of 7,200 whales. 

 The new information from the draft Department of the Interior 

 contract report suggested that present Alaska Eskimo subsistence 

 needs would be satisfied by landings of 41 whales. Based on 

 the information reviewed, the Administrator proposed that the 

 United States recommend adoption of a three-year quota of 54 

 strikes or 41 landings per year at the 1988 IWC meeting. 



The Marine Mammal Commission and its Committee of Scien- 

 tific Advisors reviewed the above document and the draft 

 Department of the Interior contract report entitled "Quantifi- 

 cation of Subsistence and Cultural Need for Bowhead Whales by 

 Alaska Eskimos" and, on 11 May 1988, provided comments to the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In its 



104 



