certification finding has remained in place pending retraction of 

 a formal Norwegian objection to the paragraph filed with the IWC. 

 However, the President chose not to impose sanctions against 

 Norway under the Pelly Amendment because of an announcement by 

 the Norwegian Government of its plans to suspend whaling 

 indefinitely after 1987. 



At the 1988 IWC meeting, Norway submitted information on a 

 proposed research program involving the kill of 35 minke whales 

 in the North Atlantic Ocean. After reviewing the Norwegian 

 research proposal, the IWC adopted a Resolution expressing the 

 view that it did not meet criteria established for research 

 involving the killing of whales and calling upon Norway to 

 refrain from issuing a special permit for the research. After 

 the 1988 IWC meeting, Norway was advised that the Secretary of 

 Commerce would be faced with considering a new certification if 

 Norway proceeded with its proposed research program. 



In July 1988, representatives of Norway and the United 

 States met to discuss the details of Norway's research proposal 

 and the questions raised by the IWC. The Norwegians provided 

 additional information on their research and pledged to provide 

 the IWC Scientific Committee with additional information on the 

 rationale, results, and plans for its research program at next 

 year's IWC meeting. That summer, Norway took 29 minke whales as 

 part of its research program. 



At the 1989 IWC meeting, however, Norway's performance was 

 unconvincing. Based on the 1988 bilateral discussions, it was 

 the understanding of the United States that Norway would: (a) 

 contribute key scientific papers to the IWC Scientific Committee 

 explaining the rationale for their "ecosystem" research program 

 (e.g. , the "multispec" ecosystem model) ; (b) work within the IWC 

 framework established for reviewing special scientific research 

 permits; and (c) initiate work in 1988 on key research activities 

 which, during the bilateral discussions, were agreed to be the 

 most scientifically important parts of Norway's research program 

 (e.g. , direct sampling of whale prey as well as the sampling of 

 prey in the stomachs of the whales themselves) . 



With the exception of sampling stomach contents, Norway did 

 not indicate it had done any of these things, and the results it 

 presented at the 1989 meeting described neither why the research 

 was needed nor the scientific rationale for its sampling program. 

 As noted above, the IWC again adopted a Resolution expressing the 

 view that its criteria for research involving the killing of 

 whales had not been fully satisfied and calling upon Norway to 

 reconsider its research program. In the weeks immediately 

 following the 1989 IWC meeting, Norway issued a special permit 

 under which 17 whales were killed. 



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