CHAPTER V 



INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF MARINE MAMMAL 

 PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION 



Section 108 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act directs that 

 the Departments of Commerce, the Interior, and State, in 

 consultation with the Marine Mammal Commission, seek to further 

 the protection and conservation of marine mammals under existing 

 international agreements and take such initiatives as may be 

 necessary to negotiate additional agreements required to achieve 

 the purposes of the Act. In addition, section 202 of the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act directs that the Marine Mammal Commission 

 recommend to the Secretary of State and other Federal officials 

 appropriate policies regarding existing international arrange- 

 ments for the protection and conservation of marine mammals. 



The Commission's activities in 1989 with respect to the 

 International Whaling Commission, conservation and protection of 

 marine mammals in the Southern Ocean, the Convention on Inter- 

 national Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and 

 the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine 

 Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region are discussed below. 



International Whaling Commission (IWC) 



During 1989, representatives of the Marine Mammal Commis- 

 sion consulted with the U.S. Commissioner to the IWC and others 

 in preparation for the Forty-first Annual Meeting of the IWC and 

 participated in meetings of the IWC and its Scientific Committee. 

 As discussed below, the Marine Mammal Commission consulted with 

 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 

 Department of State, and others throughout 1989 on matters 

 related to participation of the United States in the IWC. 



The 1989 Meeting of the IWC and Its Scientific Committee 



Membership and Participation — Representatives of 28 of the 

 IWC's 41 member nations participated in the IWC's Forty-first 

 Annual Meeting, held in San Diego, California, 12-16 June 1989. 



Moratorium on Commercial Whaling — As noted in previous 

 Annual Reports, the IWC added a new paragraph to its Schedule of 

 regulations in 1982. The new provision (paragraph 10 e) estab- 

 lished that, beginning with the 1985-1986 pelagic and 1986 

 coastal whaling seasons, all catch limits for commercial whaling 

 would be set at zero. The new measure also provided that, by 

 1990 at the latest, the IWC would undertake a comprehensive 

 assessment of the effect of the zero catch quota on whale stocks 



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