November 1987 in which it had concluded that the Japanese 

 proposal did not resolve the uncertainties identified by the 

 IWC Scientific Committee. 



On 17 December 1988, the factory ship for Japan's whaling 

 fleet set sail for the Southern Hemisphere. 



Iceland — As noted above, the United States and Iceland 

 reached an agreement concerning Iceland's whale research 

 program in September 1987. Iceland agreed to submit its 

 research program to the IWC in 1988 and thereafter and to 

 follow the recommendations of the IWC Scientific Committee, 

 and the United States agreed not to certify Iceland under 

 applicable U.S. law for taking up to 80 fin whales and 20 sei 

 whales annually. However, the material submitted by Iceland 

 at the 1988 IWC meeting was not sufficient for the IWC 

 Scientific Committee to resolve the uncertainties which it 

 had identified during its 1987 meeting. Considering the 

 Scientific Committee's report, the IWC therefore adopted a 

 resolution at its 1988 meeting expressing the view that 

 Iceland's research program still did not satisfy the criteria 

 for special permits set forth in the relevant Resolutions 

 adopted by the IWC in 1986 and 1987. 



In light of actions taken at the IWC meeting, the United 

 States and Iceland again entered into discussions following 

 the 1988 IWC meeting on Iceland's research program and possible 

 action under U.S. law. The meetings were held on 18-19 June 

 1988 in Reykjavik, Iceland, before additional whales were 

 taken by Icelandic whalers. Also following the IWC ' s Annual 

 Meeting, the Marine Mammal Commission wrote to the Secretary 

 of Commerce on 20 June 1988 noting that, contrary to 

 expectations, the Government of Iceland had made no showing 

 at the 1988 IWC meeting of attempting to comply with the IWC 

 Scientific Committee's recommendations. Therefore, unless 

 there were immediate and substantive changes in the approach 

 of Iceland prior to the taking of any whales, the Marine 

 Mammal Commission, in consultation with its Committee of 

 Scientific Advisors, recommended that the Government of Iceland 

 be certified under the Pelly Amendment as acting in a manner 

 diminishing the effectiveness of the IWC conservation program. 



Based on the discussions between representatives of 

 Iceland and the United States, the U.S. Ambassador to Iceland 

 and Iceland's Foreign Minister exchanged letters on 22 June 

 outlining the steps Iceland would take to improve the scientific 

 basis of its research program and to reduce the number of 

 whales taken. The terms of the agreement provided that: 

 because research on fin whales began later in 1988 than in 

 previous years, no more than 68 fin whales would be taken in 

 1988; no more than 10 sei whales would be taken, with this 

 reduced take being for the purpose of research on cytogenetics 



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