Chapter IV — International 



conservation program to incorporate modem princi- 

 ples of marine living resource conservation. To this 

 end, the Commission recommended that the United 

 States seek to renegotiate the International Whaling 

 Convention so that it; (1) incorporates sound princi- 

 ples of living resource conservation that take into 

 account the possible effects of all human activities on 

 whales and on the ecosystems of which whales are a 

 part; (2) recognizes the non-consumptive values of 

 cetaceans; (3) clarifies the scope of IWC authority 

 over small cetaceans; and (4) seeks adherence to 

 advice on all aspects of the IWC conservation pro- 

 gram, including the lethal takes of animals for re- 

 search purposes. 



As noted above, the comprehensive assessments 

 undertaken to date by the IWC indicate that some 

 whale stocks are above maximum net productivity 

 levels and could safely sustain some level of regulated 

 takes. If a three-fourths majority of the IWC were to 

 approve a catch limit other than zero for such stocks, 

 whaling could resume. It is likely that this will be 

 considered at the next IWC meeting. Therefore, the 

 United States must decide whether it should either 

 continue to oppose all commercial whaling or agree to 

 support catch limits it considers safe under certain 

 conditions. In this regard, the Marine Mammal 

 Conmiission pointed out that, while "science" may 

 indicate that commercial whaling could be resumed 

 without risk to the population, science alone does not 

 weigh, one way or the other, on the question of 

 whether commercial whaling should be resumed. It 

 also noted that the Marine Mammal Protection Act 

 prohibits the taking of marine mammals based, in 

 part, on moral and ethical grounds independent of 

 economic, biological, or other scientific concerns. 

 For example, the Act acknowledges that non-con- 

 sumptive values are valid components of a manage- 

 ment program that is based on sound principles of 

 living resource conservation. Because section 

 108(a)(4) of the Act directs that the purposes and 

 policies of the Act shall be the official policies of the 

 United States in negotiating and renegotiating interna- 

 tional agreements concerning marine mammals, there 

 appears to be a clear directive for the United States to 

 seek incorporation of such principles into a revised 

 convention. 



The Marine Mammal Commission acknowledged 

 the potential disadvantages of unyielding U.S. opposi- 

 tion to commercial whaling and cautioned that contin- 

 ued opposition could erode the United States' leader- 

 ship position within the IWC and weaken its effective- 

 ness on other international environmental matters. 

 With this in mind, the Commission suggested that the 

 United States address commercial whaling issues in 

 terms of potential conservation gains for all cetaceans 

 and for the conservation and sustained utilization of 

 marine living resources in general. 



The Commission concluded that the United States 

 must re-examine its commercial whaling policy in 

 light of modem principles of living resource conserva- 

 tion that recognize, among other things, non-consump- 

 tive as well as consumptive values of whales. It 

 recommended that the United States: 



• (a) adopt the position that non-consumptive 

 values of whales may be of equal, if not great- 

 er, importance than their consumptive values, 

 and that science alone should not dictate the 

 resumption of commercial whaling; 



• (b) except as specified in (d) below, oppose the 

 resumption of commercial whaling on the basis 

 of previous failures in the conservation of 

 stocks and the need to consider non-consump- 

 tive values; 



• (c) recognize that resumption of commercial 

 whaling under a conservative management 

 program {e.g., conservative quotas, effective 

 enforcement and inspection, comprehensive data 

 collection on every whale harvested, and effec- 

 tive population monitoring) would not jeopar- 

 dize the affected whale stocks or the ecosystems 

 of which they are a part; and 



• (d) take the position that, if a three-fourths 

 majority of the IWC members agree to resume 

 commercial whaling under a scientifically up-to- 

 date and carefully controlled regime, the United 

 States would not view such a resumption as 

 "diminishing the effectiveness" of the IWC 

 conservation program and would not apply or 

 seek to have other nations apply sanctions 

 against the countries that resume whaling. 



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