comments, the Commission noted that if the actual population 

 of bowhead whales was closer to the lower limit of the estimated 

 range of the population size, rather than at the mid-point 

 estimate of 7,200 whales, the proposed quota may not allow 

 the stock to increase toward its maximum sustainable yield 

 level as required by the IWC's aboriginal whaling subsistence 

 management scheme. The Commission also commented that it 

 believed it to be ill-advised for the United States to propose 

 a three-year annual strike limit (54) that was more than 50 

 percent greater than the current strike limit (35) based, in 

 large part, on a draft report of subsistence needs that had 

 not been readily available for review by all interested parties. 



The 1988 Meeting of the IWC 



Membership and Participation — Representatives of 29 of 

 the IWC's 41 member nations participated in the IWC's Fortieth 

 Annual Meeting, held in Auckland, New Zealand, on 30 May-3 

 June 1988. 



Moratorium on Commercial Whaling — In 1982, the IWC 

 adopted a new provision, paragraph 10 (e) , to its Schedule of 

 regulations. The provision established catch limits for all 

 commercial whaling at zero, beginning with the 1985-1986 

 pelagic and 1986 coastal whaling seasons, and provided that, 

 by 1990 at the latest, the IWC would undertake a comprehensive 

 assessment of the effect of this decision on whale stocks and 

 consider modifying the provision and establishing catch limits 

 other than zero. No action was taken at the 1988 meeting to 

 change this provision and, therefore, catch limits for commer- 

 cial whaling remained at zero for all stocks of whales during 

 the 1988-1989 whaling seasons. Catch limits for commercial 

 whaling will continue to be set at zero unless and until a 

 three-quarters majority of the IWC's membership votes to 

 modify Schedule paragraph 10 (e) . 



At the end of 1988, two nations, Norway and the Soviet 

 Union, continued to maintain objections to Schedule paragraph 

 10 (e) . Under the 1946 Whaling Convention, this action removes 

 the obligation of their respective governments to comply with 

 the requirements of this provision. Notwithstanding their 

 respective objections, however, the Soviet Union, as noted 

 above, suspended commercial whaling after the 1986-1987 Antarc- 

 tic minke whaling season, and the Government of Norway expressed 

 its intent in July 1986 to suspend commercial whaling after 

 the 1987 whaling season. Both countries pursued their announced 

 courses of action, and neither participated in commercial 

 whaling in 1988. As noted in previous Annual Reports, pursuant 

 to a 1984 agreement between the United States and Japan, the 

 Government of Japan submitted a prospective withdrawal of its 

 objection to paragraph 10 (e) in July 1986. The withdrawal 

 took effect on 1 April 1988. 



105 



