Chapter V — International 



of the Marine Mammal Commission. Since it was 

 established, the Marine Mammal Commission, in 

 consultation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, 

 has continued to provide advice to the Department of 

 Commerce and the Department of State on measures 

 necessary to restore depleted whale stocks and to en- 

 sure that commercial whaling does not cause any 

 whale stock to be reduced or to be maintained below 

 its optimum sustainable level. Activities related to the 

 1995 annual meeting of the IWC are described below. 



Preparations for the 1995 IWC Meeting 



The principal issues facing the IWC and its Scien- 

 tific Committee at their May-June 1995 meetings were 

 several: 



• whether to partially lift the IWC's current morato- 

 rium on commercial whaling at the behest of some 

 whaling nations; 



• developing an adequate system to supervise and 

 control commercial whaling operations that would 

 ensure compliance with catch quotas calculated 

 under the IWC's Revised Management Scheme; 



• the revision of stock size estimates for the North 

 Atlantic minke whale taken by Norwegian com- 

 mercial whalers; 



• developing humane methods for killing whales; 



• whether to recognize and authorize "small-type 

 coastal whaling" as a separate form of whaling, as 

 proposed by Japan; 



• the killing of whales for purposes of scientific re- 

 search; 



• aboriginal subsistence whaling needs; 



• the killing of whales in the IWC's Southern Ocean 

 Whale Sanctuary; and 



• the conservation of small cetaceans. 



The U.S. commissioner to the IWC, presently the 

 Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmo- 

 sphere, has lead responsibility for developing and 

 negotiating U.S. positions on all matters related to the 

 IWC. To assist in formulating policies that are both 

 scientifically sound and supported by the American 

 public, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- 

 istration holds a series of public/interagency meetings 

 each year to seek the views of government agencies, 

 members of the public, and non-governmental organi- 

 zations. Any U.S. citizens with identifiable interests 



in U.S. whale conservation policy may participate in 

 these meetings. Foreign nationals and persons repre- 

 senting foreign governments are not permitted to at- 

 tend. 



Meetings of the public/interagency committee were 

 held on 2 March and 8 May 1995 to review U.S. 

 positions for the 1995 meetings of the IWC and its 

 Scientific Committee and subsidiary bodies. Repre- 

 sentatives of the Marine Mammal Commission attend- 

 ed these meetings and worked with officials of the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 

 develop agreed positions. 



As noted in previous annual reports, the Marine 

 Mammal Commission wrote to the U.S. IWC com- 

 missioner in December 1991 and June 1992 on issues 

 related to the IWC. Among other things, the Com- 

 mission pointed out that whale stocks throughout the 

 world may be affected by environmental pollution and 

 a variety of other factors in addition to commercial 

 exploitation. The IWC recognized this possibility and 

 at its 1992 meeting asked its Scientific Committee to 

 undertake a continuing review of the possible impacts 

 of environmental change on whale stocks. At its 1993 

 meeting the IWC adopted a resolution calling for 

 more research on the subject. 



At its 1994 meeting the Scientific Committee 

 advised the IWC that whale stocks could be affected 

 directly and indirectly by a broad array of factors 

 including global warming, ozone depletion, chemical, 

 metal, and noise pollution, entanglement in fishing 

 gear, and overharvesting of key prey species. The 

 Scientific Committee proposed to hold two interses- 

 sional workshops, one in 1995 to assess the possible 

 effects of pollution and the second in 1996 on the 

 effects of global climate change on cetaceans. The 

 IWC endorsed the Scientific Committee's proposals 

 and the workshop on chemical pollution was held in 

 Bergen, Norway, on 27-29 March 1995. U.S. 

 scientists participated in that workshop. 



An intersessional working meeting also was held in 

 Lofoten, Norway, in January 1995 to recommend 

 means of ensuring compliance with allowable catch 

 limits and other applicable conservation measures. 

 The working group first met during the 1994 IWC 

 meeting, and representatives of the United States 



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