activities was developed calling for an interagency document 

 based on final Task Force policy recommendations to be provided 

 to the President by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration in the spring of 1990. 



At the end of 1989, the Commission looked forward to 

 continued participation on the Task Force and to otherwise 

 assisting in efforts to develop and shape U.S. policies on 

 whaling. 



Litigation 



On 3 August 1988, environmental and animal welfare organi- 

 zations filed a lawsuit against the Secretaries of Commerce and 

 State seeking to enjoin an agreement entered into between the 

 United States and Iceland on 22 June 1988. Under the agreement, 

 the United States agreed not to certify Iceland for killing a 

 certain number of whales in its scientific research program in 

 return for certain concessions from Iceland (see previous Annual 

 Report) . Among other things, the plaintiffs alleged that the 

 Secretary of Commerce, in entering into the agreement, acted 

 arbitrarily by failing to certify Iceland under the Pelly and 

 Packwood-Magnuson Amendments when, under similar circumstances, 

 he had certified Japan. 



The Federal defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case on 

 14 July 1989. The Government argued that the matter was moot 

 since Iceland's 1988 research whaling program had been completed 

 and a new program, covering 1989, had been adopted. The 

 plaintiffs conceded that they would not challenge the 1989 

 program. On 17 August 1989, the District Court granted the 

 Government's motion to dismiss on the grounds of mootness, 

 concluding that the exception for claims that are capable of 

 repetition did not apply since plaintiffs did not intend to 

 challenge the 1989 research program. 



Conservation and Protection of Marine Mammals 

 in the Southern Ocean 



At least thirteen species of seals and whales inhabit or 

 occur seasonally in the Southern Ocean, the seas surrounding 

 Antarctica. Two of the seal species, the Antarctic fur seal and 

 the southern elephant seal, were reduced to near extinction by 

 unregulated hunting in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. 

 In addition, Southern Ocean populations of large whales, 

 including populations of humpback, blue, fin, sei, and sperm 

 whales, were severely depleted by poorly regulated commercial 

 whaling that began in the Antarctic in the early 1900s. 



In 1972, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties concluded 

 the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals. This 



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