recommended by the IWC Scientific Committee; Iceland would 

 increase krill sampling to improve information on prey availa- 

 bility; and Iceland would carry out five specific scientific 

 recommendations identified by the IWC Scientific Committee 

 during its 1988 meeting. 



In addition, the exchange of letters put forth the under- 

 standing that, during the 1989 IWC meeting, Iceland would 

 report on the following matters: the reasons why research on 

 the ecological role of whales constitutes a reasonable and 

 necessary contribution to the comprehensive assessment or a 

 critical research need in its own right; the contributions of 

 data gathered in 1986 and 1987 for estimating the ages of 

 recruitment, the ages of sexual maturity, and pregnancy rates 

 of sei and fin whales, including a comparison of those findings 

 to data from earlier commercial catches; and the inferences 

 that can be drawn regarding stock identities of fin and sei 

 whales from electrophoretic and biochemical analyses conducted 

 by Icelandic scientists. Based on the foregoing understandings, 

 the United States agreed that Iceland's research program for 

 1988 would not diminish the effectiveness of the IWC conserva- 

 tion program. 



As discussed below, however, a group of environmental 

 and animal welfare organizations brought suit against the 

 Secretaries of Commerce and State on 3 August 1988 for failing 

 to certify that Iceland's 1988 whale research program was 

 diminishing the effectiveness of the IWC conservation program 

 under the Pelly Amendment. In addition, environmental groups 

 took steps to encourage a voluntary boycott by commercial 

 fish and fish product users in the United States and certain 

 other countries against suppliers of Icelandic fish products. 

 These non-government sponsored efforts resulted in the 

 cancellation of several contracts between certain restaurant 

 chains and suppliers and processors dealing in Icelandic fish. 



Norway — As noted above, during the 1988 IWC meeting, 

 the Government of Norway submitted a research proposal involving 

 the take of 35 minke whales. The IWC responded by adopting a 

 resolution setting forth the view that the proposed research 

 program did not meet all of its recommended criteria for 

 proposed research activities. Therefore, after the 1988 

 meeting, U.S. officials advised representatives of the Norwegian 

 Government that, based on available information on the proposed 

 research and the IWC ' s actions at the 1988 meeting, the 

 Secretary of Commerce would be faced with considering a new 

 certification of Norway under the Pelly Amendment if Norway 

 went forward with its proposed research program. 



Representatives of Norway and the United States met in 

 late July 1988 to discuss details of Norway's research proposal 

 that were not fully explained at the IWC meeting. During the 



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