1987 in Cambridge, England, to review the new proposal. In 

 preparation for this meeting, the Marine Mammal Commission 

 wrote to the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC on 12 November 1987 

 noting, among other things, that the revised proposal did not 

 address the concerns raised by the IWC Scientific Committee 

 during its review of the earlier proposal. 



At the special IWC Scientific Committee meeting in Decem- 

 ber, participants differed on whether the revised research 

 program satisfied the IWC ' s criteria for special permits. 

 However, many nations participating in the meeting shared the 

 Marine Mammal Commission's view that it did not. In view of 

 the IWC Scientific Committee's findings, the IWC Commissioner 

 for the United Kingdom submitted a proposed Resolution again 

 calling upon Japan to refrain from issuing a special permit 

 for the revised research proposal until identified concerns 

 raised by the Committee had been resolved. The proposed 

 Resolution was considered by a postal vote of IWC Commissioners 

 with a voting deadline of 14 February 1988. Despite this 

 pending IWC action, the Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship 

 sailed for the Antarctic in late December 1987. 



Early in February 1988, it was learned that Japanese 

 whalers were killing Antarctic minke whales under a special 

 permit for scientific research issued by the Japanese Govern- 

 ment. Under provisions of two U.S. laws, the Packwood-Magnuson 

 Amendment to the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management 

 Act and the Pelly Amendment to the Fishermen's Protective 

 Act, the Secretary of Commerce is reguired to notify the 

 President when he determines that the nationals of a foreign 

 country are conducting fishing operations, including whaling, 

 in a manner that diminishes the effectiveness of an interna- 

 tional fishery conservation program. In view of the above 

 developments, the Secretary of Commerce wrote to the President 

 on 9 February 1988, certifying that he had determined that 

 nationals of Japan were conducting whaling operations in a 

 manner that diminished the effectiveness of the IWC conser- 

 vation program. 



In his letter, the Secretary of Commerce cited the fol- 

 lowing points as the basis for his decision: the Resolution 

 adopted by the IWC at its 1987 meeting calling upon Japan to 

 refrain from issuing its special permit until uncertainties 

 in the proposed research program had been resolved; the December 

 1987 IWC Scientific Committee meeting report which indicated 

 that the revised Japanese research proposal did not succeed 

 in resolving the Committee's uncertainties; and Japan's issuance 

 of a special permit to take whales for scientific research 

 and information indicating that whales were being taken under 

 that permit. 



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