Chapter V — International 



IWC members have taken the position that conditions 

 for lifting the moratorium on commercial whaling 

 should include not only the previously agreed revised 

 procedure for calculating safe catch limits but also an 

 effective system for monitoring and enforcing compli- 

 ance with catch limits. 



During their 1995 meetings the IWC and its 

 Scientific Committee reviewed the results of the 

 intersessional working group meeting noted earlier to 

 examine ways of ensuring compliance with catch 

 limits. Although the need for better supervision and 

 control is widely recognized, there were differing 

 views on who should pay for supervision and control 

 programs and whether IWC observers have boarding 

 preference over national inspectors when there is 

 room aboard a whaling vessel for only one observer. 

 Whereas Japan and Norway expressed the view that 

 all IWC members should share the financial burden, 

 the United States and many other countries took the 

 position that cost burdens should be borne by com- 

 mercial whaling nations as a cost of doing business. 



There also were differing views on whether whal- 

 ing vessels should be required to carry vessel tracking 

 devices that automatically transmit location data and 

 whether means for monitoring or regulating trade in 

 whale products should be part of the supervision and 

 control system. 



Illegal Trade in Whale Products — DNA analysis 

 of whale meat samples from markets in several IWC 

 member nations suggest that several protected whale 

 species are being hunted and sold illegally. In addi- 

 tion, there is growing evidence of smuggling of whale 

 meat. Recognizing that such illegal activities were 

 compromising the effectiveness of its conservation 

 program and its resolutions prohibiting imports of 

 whale products from non-member countries, the IWC 

 adopted a resolution in 1994. The resolution calls on 

 IWC member nations to strictly meet their obligations 

 under the Whaling Convention and the Convention on 

 International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 

 Fauna and Flora. At its 1995 meeting the IWC 

 adopted another resolution calling on its members to 

 dispose of or monitor stockpiles of whale meat that 

 make it difficult to detect illegal trade. The 1995 

 resolution also calls for (a) developing programs to 

 randomly sample and test marketed whale meat using 



DNA and isozyme analyses to ensure that meat from 

 protected whale stocks is not being sold, and (2) pro- 

 hibiting the sale of whale meat that could not have 

 been taken or acquired in accordance with the provi- 

 sions of the Whaling Convention or the Convention on 

 International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 

 Fauna and Flora. 



Research Whaling — The International Conven- 

 tion for Regulation of Whaling allows member nations 

 to issue permits to its nationals to kill whales for 

 scientific research purposes, provided that research 

 plans are submitted to the IWC's Scientific Committee 

 for review and comment before the permits are 

 issued. Following adoption of the moratorium on 

 commercial whaling in 1982, Japan and Norway 

 issued permits for research whaling with questionable 

 scientific merits. In 1986 and 1987 the IWC adopted 

 guidelines for judging whether proposed takes of 

 whales for purported scientific purposes would con- 

 tribute to making determinations necessary to further 

 the IWC's conservation program. 



At the 1995 IWC meeting, Japan submitted plans 

 to continue scientific research whaling in the North 

 Pacific and the Antarctic later in 1995 and 1996. The 

 plans called for taking up to 100 minke whales in the 

 western North Pacific to clarify questions of stock 

 structure. The plans also called for expanding Japan's 

 whale research program in the Antarctic to look for 

 evidence of effects associated with pollution and 

 environmental change and for taking an additional 90- 

 1 10 minke whales from an area west of the primary 

 research area. Specific questions to be addressed by 

 the additional research whaling involved stock struc- 

 ture and movement patterns that had come to light 

 when examining data from work in previous years. 

 The total take authorized by Japan in the Antarctic in 

 1995-1996 was to increase from 270-330 to 360-440. 



The research whaling planned by Japan would be 

 done in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary (see 

 below). As a related matter, the IWC adopted a 

 resolution calling on its members to refrain from 

 issuing permits for lethal research in such sanctuaries. 

 It also adopted a resolution recommending that the 

 collection of data necessary for comprehensive assess- 

 ments of whale stocks be done by non-lethal means 

 whenever possible and that research requiring the 



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